


the devil in my bloodstream

by bi-tlejuice (bi_tlejuice), bi_tlejuice



Series: adventures of lydia deetz and the b-man [11]
Category: Beetlejuice (1988), Beetlejuice (Beetlejuice) - Fandom, Beetlejuice - All Media Types, Beetlejuice - Perfect/Brown & King
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, I'm bad at tags, M/M, Multi, beetlands, goldenrat, i cause the bug boy some PAIN, lydia and beej are best friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-05-17
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:08:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 22,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23985073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bi_tlejuice/pseuds/bi-tlejuice, https://archiveofourown.org/users/bi_tlejuice/pseuds/bi_tlejuice
Summary: Adam's left lying on the floor after being pushed away, a fistful of ripped cloth in his hand. The door to the Netherworld slams shut and Beetlejuice disappears.(or: juno comes back to take what's hers)
Relationships: Beetlejuice/Adam Maitland/Barbara Maitland
Series: adventures of lydia deetz and the b-man [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1690348
Comments: 54
Kudos: 320





	1. depression grabbed his throat (and choked the life out of him slowly)

**Author's Note:**

> semi part two of part 9 in the series ! you don't HAVE to have read it but it would be ideal  
> inspired by a comment left by @cirilee (amazing, love them.) happy reading!

"No, _Adam_ , it's much cooler than that," Beetlejuice is insisting, chewing Delia's diet coke can like it's cotton candy. "For a _breather_ , the stomach capacity on this guy is legendary- he's undefeated, Adam!" 

Barbara is tired, in the way that ghosts don't really get tired but she's been helping Delia rearrange the house all day. Her body aches a little but it's a nice ache in the way that makes her feel alive again. Beetlejuice is sat to her left, pressed up against her shoulder because of how excitedly he's leaning over the table explaining _Man vs Food_ to Adam. "I'm pretty sure I've seen him vomit," Lydia interjects, pushing her green beans around her plate. 

"Uh, well," is the response as he thoughtfully munches the aluminium. "Still. You have to admit it's pretty sick." Lydia rolls her eyes but doesn't disagree, instead waiting for Charles to lean over his plate to throw a green bean into Beetlejuice's open mouth. She can't help but laugh behind her hand at the look of pure _disgust_ that encompasses him the second he starts eating it. Whilst Charles is still distracted attempting to scoop all of the pasta into one last mouthful, Beetlejuice flicks his wrist towards the green beans and they disappear into a tiny puff of green flame, leaving the plate completely empty. 

"What was that?" Charles says, turning towards them immediately with a look of extreme concern. "I _told_ you two- _no fire inside the house_."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Lydia deadpans, patting her mouth with her napkin innocently. To her credit, she somehow doesn't laugh at Beetlejuice's appalled _who, me?_ expression. 

"Chuck, trust me. If we were setting fires, you'd- woah." Barbara looks up from the last few peas on her plate at his sudden deer-in-the-headlights expression. Almost instantly, before she realises what's wrong at all, he's on guard. Behind her, a Netherworld door creaks open - she's never seen that before. She was under the impression that nobody was supposed to be able to make doors _from_ the Netherworld. "Maria? Kinda in the middle of dinner here, I thought-" 

Before the door has even swung fully open, something tiny shoots out of the smoke, landing in Beetlejuice's neck. "Huh?" he frowns, fingers going up to touch where blood is beading in his skin. "Wha-" is all he says before his face slumps forward, collapsing on to the table with a dull thud. For a second, nobody moves, in shock and trying to work out what's going on. 

Lydia is the first to react, leaning over and shaking his shoulder heavily. "Beej. _Beetlejuice._ " There's no response. When Lydia shifts his face, she sees how his eyes have rolled back into his head. "Beetlejuice!" 

Adam starts trying to wake him too, pulling at the dart in his neck. The door slams open completely and several black tendrils spill out, reaching past her shoulder at immense speed and latching on to Beetlejuice by the collar. Charles grabs on to his arm and pulls but it's no use - they seem to have inhuman strength, easily lifting both men over the table and dragging them towards the door. " _Do_ something!" Lydia shrieks, running towards to door. This kicks Adam into action, vaulting over the dinner table and sprinting towards the stairs where the door has appeared. 

It's faster than Barbara has ever seen him run, but it's not fast enough. The tendrils bang the two of them against the stairs until Charles is forced to let go, Adam's fingers latching on to Beetlejuice's shirt but too late.

He's left lying on the floor after being pushed away, a fistful of ripped cloth in his hand. The door to the Netherworld slams shut and disappears. 

"Beetlejuice!" Lydia cries, pushing past Delia and running up to the wall. It's no use - the door is completely gone, it's just the wall now - but she's banging up on it anyway, yelling his name until her voice breaks. Barbara's body finally unfreezes and she rushes over, trying to pull Lydia away from the door before she hurts herself. "Open a door! We can- we _have_ to go, we have to go and find him!"

"Sweetheart," she murmurs, wrapping her own arms around Lydia so she stops banging on the wall. "You know that if we open a door it won't go to wherever he's gone." This is what makes her give up, because it's true - they're just ghosts who don't have the power to maninpulate the two planes. Doors opened in the real world by them will always just lead to the entrance. "I'm worried too- of _course_ I am. But remember, he's very powerful. I'm sure as soon as he wakes up he'll- um, destroy whatever that tentacle thing was and come back."

Lydia's still against her chest, hands shaking by her sides. Over by the stairs, Delia is holding a frozen bag of peas to a lump blooming on the side of Charles' forehead. Adam is still sat on the floor where he landed, staring at his shoes. "What if he doesn't?"

And well, how do you even respond to a question like that? Lydia's not a baby and she's not stupid, she won't accept a _he will come back,_ because there's no way of knowing whether he will. "We'll work that out if it comes to it. Remember - time passes more quickly here, so we need to give it some time."

"What? How do you know?"

"Well- when you and your dad went, you thought you'd only been gone for two hours, right? It was nearly a whole day." Lydia seems to relent at this, even if only slightly. When Barbara lets go, she doesn't run, just sits on the arm of the sofa and stares at where the door had appeared. 

"I'll put the kettle on," Delia says after a while, voice soft in the quiet room. Charles has migrated to the sofa, head leaned back with the peas balanced on top. "Tea for everyone?"

Nobody responds and Delia just stands there, hovering by the kitchen and looking incredibly lost. "Tea would be lovely," she says, meaning the smile she gives her. "Do you need a hand?" Barbara wants her to say yes just so she has something to do, but she shakes her head and potters over to the kettle. She's left staring helplessly at Adam where he hasn't moved from the floor, staring helplessly at where Lydia is curled up on the armchair. "Adam," she murmurs, kneeling down beside him. He nods, not turning to face her. There's no reaction when she reaches to touch his arm - weirdly, he feels much colder than usual. "Honey, come upstairs for a second with me." For a moment, she thinks he didn't hear her but eventually he moves, standing up shakily next to her. Barbara makes sure to meet Delia's eye to let her know they'll be back before leading her husband up the stairs.

Part of her expects him to break down as soon as she closes the door, but instead he just stands there, same empty look in his eyes. It's worse than seeing him cry. Barbara doesn't know what to do at all. "Hey," she says, because any kind of response is better than nothing.

"If I was any faster I could have shut the door," he finally says. Adam's voice is hollow and tired in a way he hasn't sounded for a long time. "I just-" he tries, dropping his arms from where they were hugging his torso. "I don't know, Barbara. I feel like I let him down."

"Adam, don't be-" she tries, reaching for his face but he's started now and he doesn't seem able to stop as he steps away from her hand. 

"No, I did. In the second before he- I don't know, lost consciousness, he looked so _scared._ I've never seen him look that scared before. If it had been one of us, you know he would've been- or, he would have done something. He wouldn't have waited as long as I did to react." Adam's face crumples, lip wobbling and Barbara's heart aches. "Lydia's right, you know she is. He might not ever come back."

"Don't you dare say that. Don't-" 

"But it's true!" he bursts out, eye to eye with her. "Yes, he's powerful, but his m- that _woman_ is something else and you _know_ he's terrified of her. I don't know about you but I can't just sit here and wait for him to never come back."

" _Adam_." Her voice is raised ever so slightly because she needs him to hear her, really actually hear her. "Look at me. You did everything you could and Beetlejuice would never hold that against you, you know that. And I'm not suggesting that. I'm saying that it would be- hm. It would likely cause more harm than good for us to rush off there now. We aren't supposed to be able to leave if we enter the Netherworld, remember? But equally, I don't plan to sit here and do nothing if he doesn't show up. We just need to- to stay calm and come up with a solid, detailed plan as to what we'll do if he doesn't come back."

He falters slightly, backing down and just looking tired again. "You always know _exactly_ what to say, don't you?"

"I'm the most reasonable person in this house, honey. Of course I know what to say." He cracks a smile at this, and maybe it doesn't quite meet his eyes but she'll take anything at this point. "Do you want your tea that Delia made?"

"Sure," he shrugs, sitting down on the edge of the bed. Barbara doesn't miss how he's staring at Beetlejuice's jacket which is slung over the coat stand. "I don't know what to say to Lydia." Barbara just walks over, squeezes his hand. She doesn't know what to say to Lydia either. 

-

Three days pass and there's absolutely no sign of Beetlejuice anywhere. Charles calls Lydia's teachers and cites a family emergency as the reason she so clearly hasn't been sleeping. Barbara understands; luckily they don't need sleep, because her and Adam have found that without Beetlejuice they can't sleep anymore. The bed feels bigger than it ever was and too empty no matter how they lie down together. Delia seems to be coping similarly to her - together, they've deep cleaned the entire house and cooked several intricate meals, not that anyone likes eating at the table in silence. 

Barbara knew that Beetlejuice was important to her. Obviously. They've been dating him for several months now and of _course_ she was happy, but she didn't pay attention to how intricately woven he was in her life. Everything she does, he's _missing_ from it. Adam's been avoiding talking about it, spending most of his time in the attic remaking things from the model town that were already perfect. She thinks that maybe they should talk about it, because they need to be one hundred percent in tune with each other if they end up needing to go and find him. Part of her wants him to ask her how she's doing. The other part of her feels guilty for wanting that. Barbara's supposed to be the one who has it all together, right? The voice of reason, someone who's there for everyone, the unbreakable support figure. 

She feels a little bit broken. 

But, as her mom always used to say, keep on keeping on. 

Besides, whilst she might be incredibly worried about Adam, she's not worried about _them_. Nothing can come between them- it's not something she's just confident in, it's fact. A current inability to communicate isn't an Adam vs Barbara situation. This has to be them versus the issue. 

Funnily enough, she's sitting on the bed thinking about this when Adam sticks his head through the attic doorway with a soft smile on his face. "Hey," he says, waiting until she beckons him in to come through the door. "Maybe we should talk about- um, about all this?"

"Sure, honey- are you okay?"

"No- no, I mean yes, I'm alright. By 'no' I meant _no_ , I wanted to ask, uh, how you were. I've been busy- busy panicking, I guess, and the idea of talking about it made it more real. But I realised I haven't really checked in with how you're doing. And that's not fair." She smiles a smile that says _I love you_ and shifts over, hoping he'll come and sit down next to her. "Really, I think it's because I don't want to cry in front of you again."

"Adam, you cry at the McCain hash brown advert."

"I- it's _sweet_ , they're having a family meal and- hey, that's not the point," he says, sitting down across from her. "Every time we've talked about this over the last few days, it's because I've been upset- I'm not saying let's stop talking about that, because honestly I don't know what I'd do without you there. I'm just- I want to check in with you, because I think you would rather me think you're fine than actually talk about you maybe not being fine."

Barbara isn't going to tell him that she's been thinking the exact same thing. They're pretty much telepathically linked at this point, probably. All that matters to her is that he's here now, attentively waiting for her to speak. "Um," she says eloquently, smiling nervously down at her knees. She's perfected the art of listening. She's not entirely sure how to talk about her own feelings. "I don't know what to say, really."

"That's fine! Well, uh, why don't we start with. Hm. What are you, um," he frowns, gesturing vaguely towards her, "how are you feeling? Right now?"

"Tired," she says truthfully. It's the easiest thing to talk about. "I haven't felt this tired since before we died. And- I don't know. I think it's important to stay _positive_ about this, but I just-" Barbara's voice cracks unexpectedly and hey, that's not happening because no way does Barbara Maitland cry. _Especially_ Barbara two-point-oh. She hasn't cried since, well. Since they lost their baby. "Sorry, I don't-"

"You are so silly," he's saying, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. "You're speaking to someone who cries at hash brown adverts, honey. Crying is nice sometimes." For some reason, this sets her off completely and she's sobbing in to the fabric of his t-shirt. It still feels kind of wrong, to be this vulnerable, but the way he's softly rubbing her back and pressing kisses to her forehead is so gentle that maybe crying isn't so bad.

"I'm- sorry," she hiccups, squeezing his chest as close as she can. "I just- I _miss_ him, he was just _always_ around and- and now- now he's _gone_ , and I'm so scared he's not going to come _back_." Adam doesn't say anything, but she can tell he's listening, waiting for her to say whatever it is she hasn't said yet. "I promised Lydia he'd come back, and if he doesn't-"

"If he doesn't we'll go get him, but you don't owe Lydia that. Of course you told her that he's coming back - I would have said the same thing." He's right, and she knew that, but hearing him say it lifts some of the guilt off of her shoulders. "I'm scared too, Barb. But we have each other, and I think we can do this as long as we do it together." They're lying down now, curled up around each other as the sun sets through the attic window. Barbara doesn't feel okay, but she does feel better. 

"I love you," she says into his t-shirt, unable not to laugh when he snores softly in response. Out like a light, as always. 

It's only when she wakes up to Lydia standing at the top of the stairs, clutching what looks like a stuffed dog does she realise she also fell asleep next to Adam. "Sorry. I didn't think you'd be sleeping," she whispers, looking as if she's waiting for Barbara to ask what's wrong. 

"It's okay, honey. Didn't mean to fall asleep- is everything okay?"

"Yeah. Uh. I dunno, I can't sleep and I thought you'd be awake and we could- I dunno, I'll let you sleep." Lydia turns to leave and it takes that long for Barbara's sleepy mind to clock that she seems like she also might have been crying. 

"You want to sleep in here?" she offers, because it breaks her heart to see her look so sad. And on a serious note, Barbara thinks if Lydia goes another night without sleep she'll probably collapse sometime tomorrow. "Bed's plenty big enough. Come snuggle up."

Lydia doesn't smile but she does tiptoe over, hesitantly lying down on the empty side of the bed. Adam's still snoring behind Barbara, head tucked under his own arm so he's not disturbed when she reaches for Lydia. "Thanks." Barbara forgets how tiny she really is and can't really help tucking her in. "Night."

"Goodnight, sweetie," she whispers, planting a kiss on her forehead. Just like Adam, she's snoring softly within minutes and Barbara finds it much easier to fall back asleep. The bed makes more sense with three people in it. 

-

They're sat eating dinner in silence - Barbara's not sure what it is, because without Beetlejuice there to remind her, Delia doesn't remember to put in extra seasoning and she therefore can't taste anything - when Lydia clears her throat, pulling a notebook out from her schoolbag under the table. "So," she says, pushing her mostly untouched plate away and laying it down on the table. "It's been two weeks. We all know Beetlejuice isn't coming back."

"Lydia-" Charles tries, placing a hand on her shoulder. 

She doesn't shrug him off but she may as well have, ignoring him completely and turning to a page in the middle. It's nearly black with messy biro scrawl, sketches of jagged lines and pathways stuffed into the corners of pages. "So. We have to go and get him because he's not okay."

"We don't _know_ that-" Delia interjects, trying to read the page over Lydia's shoulder.

"We _do_. When I was trapped in the Netherworld he could still talk to me. He'd show up in my dreams _all_ the time. There's nothing. So that means we have to go and get him and this is the plan. I've been there before _twice_ now so I think I have a pretty good understanding of how it works. Tonight, we-"

"Okay, Lydia," Charles says again, picking up the notebook to stare at the drawings. "These are really accurate, actually, from what I remember. Maybe- perhaps you're right. But we can't just storm into the Netherworld without a plan-"

"We have a plan, you're holding it," she deadpans, eyes narrowing when Charles closes the notebook. "Dad, this is _serious._ "

"What I mean is that _all_ of us need to seriously sit down and review this plan. Going tonight with five minutes preparation is not a good idea - it's unsafe and would likely end very, very badly. I understand how important this is, Lydia. I do. Let the four of us properly look over this tonight and we can talk about it tomorrow." It's not phrased as a question and he's not really giving her a choice, but he still waits for her reluctant nod before saying anything else. "Thank you." Adam meets her eye and then looks back at Lydia, probably thinking the same thing as Barbara - there's no way Charles is going to let Lydia go to the Netherworld, so what's his game plan here?

"I feel like we all already know that Lydia can't go to the Netherworld," he says in a hushed voice, an hour later after Lydia has finally gone to bed. The four of them are huddled around the coffee table with Lydia's notebook in the middle which they've poured over in extensive detail. "It's too dangerous, and she- I don't trust that she'll be able to stay, um. Rational, if it comes to anything drastic." Exactly what Charles is hinting at she's not sure, but she completely agrees. She'd rather face whatever took Beetlejuice _alone_ than have Lydia go anywhere near it. 

"You shouldn't go either," Adam says from her side, one knee resting on top of hers. "Both of you. There's no danger for us."

"That's not true," Delia frowns, pointing at a messy note in the corner. "Concerns: A and B can't leave hell."

"That's only if we don't find Beetlejuice," Barbara points out, tapping her fingers on the underside of the table, "And we aren't coming back without him, so that fixes that. But you guys- if anyone catches you, they'll kill you. Living people aren't allowed in the Netherworld."

"Our time in the Netherworld did consist of pretty much everyone we met trying to kill us," Charles sighs, dropping his head into his hands. "Delia, you should stay."

"Don't be ridiculous, Charles," she protests. "If you're going, I'm coming with you."

" _Neither of you_ should come," Adam insists. "Besides, someone needs to stay behind with Lydia. Hopefully, Beej has mentioned us to Maria before- and if not, I'm sure we can convince her." When neither of them look convinced, he takes Barbara's hand and squeezes it softly. "If- if anything were to go wrong, it would be okay if we got stuck- like, moving house, kind of. If they kill you, that leaves Lydia alone."

"We've got this," she promises. They've discussed that worse case scenario, albeit briefly - the concept of not finding him, of being stuck in the Netherworld. Obviously, it's not something they want - it would be horrible, to live in an infinite nothing without any of their weird family they've found. But they'd be together. It would be awful. But it wouldn't be impossible. "The only question now is when we should go."

"Well- if you insist on leaving without us, maybe- if Lydia knows you're going, she's going to try and come with you. Maybe going while she's sleeping is best," Charles says, sounding defeated. "I hate to- to keep this a secret from her. She cares about him so much. But- it's for the best, I think?"

"Completely," Barbara agrees, not saying how much she would hate to leave without saying goodbye to her. "Maybe- if we're leaving now, could I leave her a note? Could you give it to her?"

"Of course," Delia says, holding out a hand towards her. "Thank you for- y'know," she smiles with watery eyes, nodding when Barbara squeezes her fingers. 

_Lydia,_

_Hi. I know you're probably more angry at us than you've ever been, but you have to trust us on this. The risk of you and your parents coming with us was too big - you have so much life left to live and Beetlejuice wouldn't want you to throw that away just to come with us (and we feel the same way.) We want you to know how much we love you. See you soon, okay?_

_Adam and Barbara._


	2. i've got the same blood coursing through my veins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "If somebody knocks at your door, do not answer. Strange beings crawl along these planes, those not human enough to be let inside. They will be able to sense you - your thoughts, your fears, everything - but they cannot come in unless you let them. Whoever you think is knocking- hear this. It is not them."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is becoming slightly more serious than i'd originally planned, but i think i'm happy with it? sorry the chapters are quite short!

When it comes to it, it's a lot easier to leave than Barbara thought it would be. Now that Charles and Delia were staying behind by choice (because her and Adam had discussed different scenarios in how they'd sneak away without anyone knowing) it made it a lot easier. Leaving the note for Lydia neatly folded on the kitchen table made a different kind of guilt pool in her stomach, something that kind of felt like it might have been maternal guilt, but there was no going back on that. It was the only option. Lydia's proven she's not above pushing her way through towards the doorway if need be. So, she hugs both Delia and Charles goodbye and waits for Adam to do the same before they draw the door. 

Beetlejuice always went on about how doors _to_ the Netherworld are really, really hard to make lead to a specific place - even the same doorway can lead to any different place if you walk through it at different times. So, after they've said goodbye, they draw the door and make sure to walk through holding hands. They can't end up in two different places like that. "Here goes nothing," Adam says, holding on to her hand so tight it hurts. The green smoke is thick in the air but enticing, so much so that she wants to walk through it.

It's like- well. It's difficult to explain. It's almost as if they don't _walk_ anywhere. The second they're through the door, it's gone and they're somewhere else entirely. Dimly lit and packed with people, before looking around Barbara loops her fingers firmly around Adam's wrist and takes a deep, metaphorical breath. "Look for the sash," she says lowly into his ear before nearly shrieking.

On the left side of Adam's head there's a deep crack, dried blood matted in his hair and in streams down the left side of his face. From the way he's looking at her, she assumes there's something similar on her head - she never wanted to see their bodies down in the basement, but it does make sense that they would be wounded in some way. "Your head," she says, touching a hand to the side of it. It makes her feel sick, like they've just died all over again.

For a second, he's reaching out for her as well. But then he just squeezes her hand, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "Focus. Need to find her." Thankfully, Maria seems to be in the habit of making everyone aware of her presence, as they're only searching for a few minutes before someone starts yelling in the centre of the crowd. 

"Welcome! Welcome to all recently deceased. If you could all form a line and I'll be with you all shortly!" There's some general grumbling and complaining but pretty much everyone complies. Barbara tries not to look around too much because pretty much everyone is in some state of- _disrepair_ , let's say. Fortunately, Adam's expert weaving through the crowd leaves them pretty close to the start of the line as she starts checking off names on her list. She's working at superhuman speed and is by them in seconds, smiling blankly as if she'd rather be anywhere else than here. "Oh! Love a pair of newly-deads. Names?"

"Adam and Barbara Maitland." Immediately, the smile drops. Barbara can't help but think _thank fucking God,_ because her knowing who they are is so much easier than having to convince her. 

"Shit," she whispers, barely audible but still laced with _something._ " _Follow my lead_." Barbara barely has time to read her lips before she's grabbing Adam by the shoulder and pulling him by the arm. "Pushing in, are we? Not in the Netherworld, my dears! _Back_ of the line!" Just like that, she's walking them to the end of a very long line until they turn a corner she didn't even see. "Don't move a fucking muscle. She can't see you if you don't move. I'll be back." And she's gone, leaving them pressed up against a wall they can't even see and feeling as if they're holding their breath. She wants to reach for Adam for comfort - she can see him in her peripheral but it's not enough to calm her - but whoever Maria's referring to, she does _not_ want her to see them.

Sure enough, only a short amount of time passes before a familiar voice screeches around the corner. "Form a _single-file_ line! I don't _care_ if you died together, you're _not_ being processed together!" 

Juno. If Maria knew they were coming, if she thinks they have to be hiding from Juno, does that mean she's got something to do with Beetlejuice's disappearance? All she can do is speculate and focus on staying perfectly, completely and utterly still. "Hm, big load," she's grumbling as Maria cheerily checks the names on her lists. "Seems like _some_ of you didn't follow the proper instructions and come straight away!" She pauses and appears around the corner, staring straight at them. 

_Don't move a fucking muscle_ , Barbara thinks, hopefully loud enough for Adam to hear. Sure enough, Juno stares for a little longer before sniffing a few times and turning around. "Certainly _smells_ like some of you are not so recently deceased." That was- she's never felt more afraid, pretty much ever. 

Barbara's only ever encountered Juno once, when she came back into the house to kill Lydia and Beetlejuice (not that you can really _kill_ Beetlejuice,) but even in that short amount of time her powers seemed pretty overwhelming. For starters, she was able to sense when a door from their house had been opened _immediately_ and then geared up to kill all five of them. She would ideally like to avoid her at all costs, but she has a feeling that they will be bumping in to her at one point or another. 

They stand there for what feels like an eternity, not risking even turning their heads towards one another as whenever it seems like it might be safe she turns the corner again. It feels like she can see them, like her eyes linger on them for too long - she can smell them, definitely, but somehow she's still walking away. Finally the last of the dead trawl through the gate and it's just Maria and Juno left, standing a few feet away. It's close enough that Barbara's eyes are burning from the cigarette smoke, but she doesn't dare wipe them. 

"Dios mío, I'm _bored_ , Juno. Think something else can deal with the next lot?"

"Whatever," she coughs, looking over her shoulder. "You know how busy I am. Don't let anyone near my office and I don't care." Maria shrugs, pulling up the clipboard again out of seemingly nowhere and flicking through the papers whilst Juno walks off. There's some kind of _whoosh_ noise, like a jacket dropping to the ground but much more ominous, and she finally looks up at them, shoulders sagging.

"She's gone. Fuck, keeping you hidden was _hard_ work. Come, quickly," she beckons, not giving them any time to question her and having to just follow her around endless winding corridors. The floors and walls seem to disappear and appear at random to the point where Adam walks in to a wall face-first because they all just _look_ like a black nothingness. "Here." A door opens out of nothing, leading to- well, it's almost a nice room compared to everything they've seen so far. It's dark, obviously, but there's carnival posters on the wall in faded colour and even some potted plants. Though, when she reaches out for one of them, Maria smirks and says, "Wouldn't do that," as it grows teeth and snaps at her hand.

"Where's Beetle-" Adam tries to say before a hand sprouts from under the desk and clamps over his mouth. 

"Not here. It's her curse, she can hear you too." Slowly, he nods, shaking the hand off when it doesn't leave. "How much d'you know?"

"We were eating dinner, a door opened, a dart _tranquilised_ him and some weird- uh, tentacles? Came through and grabbed him." 

Maria grimaces, sitting back on the desk. "Yep, that's her. Hate it when she does that."

"I, I'm sorry," Adam fumbles, stepping away from the plant as it starts growing towards him, "those tentacles are _her_?"

"She's a demon. Her real form isn't a human, she just keeps it normally 'cause all the recently deceased would _freak_ if they saw the real her." She shudders, crossing her arms over her chest. "Trust me, if you never see it you'll be lucky."

"But is Beej- does she _have_ him? If you know that, why haven't you helped him?" Barbara can't help but ask, feeling something unfamiliar bubbling in her chest.

"Don't- BJ's been my number one guy for _years_. I'd do anything to help him out. J's in charge of too much - if I went against her, forget exorcism, I'm in for _eternal torture_. Millennia of her slowly and painfully ripping me apart." She pauses, staring down at her nals. "The same will happen to you if you are caught. BJ told me to tell you- tell you not to come. To tell you to go home."

"He must have known we wouldn't listen, right?" Adam frowns, interlacing his fingers with Barbara. "We aren't leaving without him."

Surprisingly, this makes her smile down at the floor. Barbara notices a grainy black and white polaroid in a cracked frame, haphazardly lying under the desk as if it's been hidden. It's hard to make it out in the darkness, but she'd recognise that suit anywhere. "I am glad he has people like you. Braver than me. He deserves it." Maria looks uncertain when Barbara holds her hand out towards her, but she still takes it, grinning when Barbara squeezes it. "Still. I can help you. You need to take this." From seemingly nowhere (though Barbara thinks it was in her bra) she pulls out an engraved pocket watch in a language she's never seen before, rusted at the edges and on a thin golden chain. "This will tell you the real time here."

"I thought time didn't really exist here?"

"It doesn't- or, it does, but not really. Like this; it moves around however it wants. Sometimes an hour will pass in seconds or it may last several days. This watch will follow that."

Adam takes it, pushing his glasses up his nose to take a proper look at it. "So time moves at random speed? Oh, boy. Why do we need it?"

"Every day, she leaves her office at exactly 12 to come and process the new dead. That's why sometimes they are waiting for days - if twelve does not come, she will not leave her office. You must sit and wait, never looking away from the clock, and wait for twelve. I will create a- hm, how do you say? A hidey hole next to her office where you may wait and go as soon as she is gone."

"She won't find us?"

"No, as long as you do not leave. If you leave the space it will no longer exist." She sinks her hands into her hair for a second, but the perfect ponytail doesn't budge. Barbara can't imagine being stuck here forever. "When you leave this room, you will be inside the hiding space. Do not leave. If somebody knocks at your door, do not answer. Strange beings crawl along these planes, those not human _enough_ to be let inside. They will be able to sense you - your thoughts, your fears, everything - but they cannot come in unless you let them. Whoever you think is knocking- hear this. It is _not them_." With that, she gathers herself, standing up perfectly straight as if nothing is wrong at all. "You've been here too long. Go." 

The office door creaks open and there's a small room waiting for them. Architecturally, it should be impossible - the walls seem to change directions whenever she blinks, but when they turn back to Maria the door is shut and she's gone. "Well," Adam sighs, sitting cross legged in the corner. "At least the floor is comfortable. Come sit down, Barb. We'd better keep a close eye on the watch." When he passes it to her, the cracked clockface reads as 9, but apparently this doesn't mean they only have three hours to wait. Anything between a few minutes and what could be forever. _At least they're together_ , she thinks as she curls into his side. In such a cold room he feels warm.

"Don't let me fall asleep, okay?" she yawns, smiling when he tucks an arm around her and starts stroking her head. "I mean it, Adam. We should both be awake."

"Oh, of course. Of course," he's saying, not sounding at all like he means it. 

_"Barbara_ ," he's hissing in her ear sometime later, shaking her awake. "I think there's something outside the door." Shaking the sleep away, she frowns, rubbing her eyes. For a moment, the room is completely silent and she assumes he's been imagining something or other before there's three undeniable scratches at the door. "It knocked the first time," he whispers as she immediately sits up, pressing her back against the wall furthest from the door. Sure enough, after another longer pause, there's two sharp bangs against the door and the doorknob starts rattling.

"Hey, it's me! Let me in," Beetlejuice's voice comes from the other side of the door. The doorknob rattling doesn't cease. Immediately she's on her feet because thank _fuck_ , he's here and why is Adam pulling her away?

" _Remember what Maria said,_ " he whispers, creeping closer to the door. "It's not him." She desperately wants to open it, just to check because what if it is him and they're keeping him out? But she trusts Adam, trusts his instincts so she waits, pressing an ear up against the door. It bangs again and she nearly yelps but doesn't pull her ear away.

" _Please_ , guys," the voice is begging, fists repeatedly banging on the door. "Please, she- she's gonna hurt me, please let me in." It's not him. When she presses her ear up to the door, she can hear the whispery voice that echoes before it, almost as if they're puppeting him. However, knowing that doesn't make it any easier to ignore it. The Beetlejuice outside is crying now, relentlessly banging on the door and Barbara presses her hands over her ears. It's horrific. 

"I hate this," she whispers as her and Adam sit as far away as they can in the tiny room. "It just sounds exactly like him. I can't shake the feeling that it _is_ him." 

"I know, Barbara, I hate it too- but we're doing this _for_ him," Adam says, even though she's pretty sure the voice made him cry at some point. "The clock says it's 11:29, though, so hopefully the rest of the time will pass that quickly." What if that thing is still outside when they need to leave? Hopefully it won't be.

As if on cue, the banging stops and the Beetlejuice that isn't really Beetlejuice seems to disappear. "Thank God," she whispers, not trusting herself to speak loudly. 

Outside the door, Lydia starts screaming.

"It's not real," she says, because one of them has to say it, she has to hear it. If Beetlejuice made Adam cry, this leaves him _horrified_ , clamping his head between his arms. "It's not real. Not real, not real, not real." 

The screaming lasts for hours. 

At 11:36, it _finally_ stops. Hesitantly, Barbara uncurls from where her and Adam are wrapped tightly together, not saying _anything_ because she doesn't believe it's stopped. But silence remains and the minutes start ticking by at a much more reasonable speed and maybe, _maybe_ it's okay. When the clock finally makes it to 11:42, what she thinks might be a half hour later, it truly seems like it might be okay. "Hey," she says to Adam, just to check he's still there. He still looks kind of terrified, but she figures she must look the same. "We made it through that? Now we can make it through anything." Slowly, he nods, pressing his forehead against hers. When he kisses her, it's chaste and soft but still incredibly calming.

"We're okay," he repeats, closing his eyes. They can do this. 

"If he's not happy to see us after all this, I'll kill him," she can't help but say, weight rolling from her shoulders slightly as Adam manages a smile at this. What she doesn't say is, _do you think he's going to be okay when we find him_? because Adam's held it together wonderfully so far, but nervous spiraling is sort of a specialty of his and Barbara doesn't want to take any chances. In times like these, Barbara has learned to talk to her anxiety in the same way she would speak to Lydia; _all we can do is focus on finding him. Worrying is not beneficial at the moment._ It's frustrating, sometimes, because sometimes her anxiety acts like a teenager and refuses to go away, but in the long run it's had an overtly positive effect. 

"I wish we had some kind of semblance as to how large our window of time is," he frowns, standing up and stretching his arms. 

"Me too," she agrees, watching his fingertips scrape the ceiling. "Obviously, we want to be out as soon as possible- but like, _some_ kind of indicator would be good. Like, an hour? Five minutes?"

"When we were in the waiting room- if I had to hazard a guess, I'd say we were there for maybe forty minutes. The issue is that we have no idea how much of a- uh, build up, of dead people that was."

"Shall we say a solid twenty minutes?"

"Off of what basis?" he frowns, offering her a hand to get up off the floor. 

"That's how long I feel like we're gonna have." Adam looks slightly put off by this statement, but he doesn't challenge her. "I mean, ideally he'll be right by the door and we can just- in and out, right?"

"Right," he says, not sounding entirely sure. "I think we shouldn't have- oh, crap, Barbara. It's 12:01!" he hisses, waving the watch around far too fast for her to read it. "Oh, no, no- it must've sped up again!"

"Adam," she says, grabbing him by the arms. "Calm down. It's fine as long as we go now, but we need to be calm and silent. We can do this, okay?" He nods, not looking entirely sure. Barbara isn't entirely sure either, so she just kisses him and says, "I love you."

"You too," he affirms, wriggling out of her grip to properly hug her. "Let's go." In her head, Barbara counts to three before twisting the doorknob and pulling the door open.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> let me know what you think!! if you want to chat find me on tumblr @bi-tlejuice!


	3. it'll come for me eventually

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Welcome to the Netherworld, Maitlands," Juno says with a crooked grin, lighting a cigarette with the tip of her finger. "I'm glad we've all said our goodbyes, but I think it's time to go now."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hehe this is a bit angsty. thanks @cirilee for beta-ing, you're my favourite
> 
> thinking of maybe making this fic a bit longer?

Just like Maria had said, as soon as the door swung open the room disintegrated around them, leaving them standing in a dimly lit hallway that seemed to have no end. In front of them is a large, cracked oak door with _Juno_ burned in to the wood and deep scratch marks around the handle. Adam meets her eye, just for a second, and nods. A final metaphorical deep breath. Barbara opens the door. 

Before looking around, she closes it behind them, because even hearing the latch click will give them some kind of a warning and she'll take anything at this point. The office is quite small and completely barren, complete with a small desk in the center and two filing cabinets on the left. "If I was going to describe that woman's office to you without ever seeing it, I would've said this," she whispers, stepping closer to the desk. Dried blood pools in the corner and in messy prints on the wall. She tries not to think about how ghosts don't bleed but born-dead do. 

"He's not _here_ ," Adam hisses, waving his arm around. 

"Keep looking."

"For _what_? Is he hiding behind the file cabinets? Under the- _oh._ " Barbara turns from where she's lifting an empty picture frame to see Adam crouched next to the desk. "Trapdoor under the chair." Immediately, she's on the floor next to him, nails scrabbling at the wooden latch in attempt to lift it. "I think- it's too heavy, she probably used _demon magic_."

That's definitely not what it's called, but now is hardly the time to tell him that. "So? Hold the latch back," she instructs, locking her eyes onto the trapdoor. This is heavy, so it's probably going to be not super easy, but Beetlejuice has been helping her practice a lot recently, so she holds her hands out and closes her eyes. It's a strange sensation - in a way, possessing something, even inanimate, makes her feel more alive than anything else - energy flowing through her body so warm that it nearly burns, feeling it leave her fingers but still remain attached to her body. It's one of the few things she prefers to being alive. No more smashing expensive china just because Adam left it on the top shelf. Sure enough, there's the tugging sensation in the back of her head and the trapdoor shoots open, narrowly missing Adam's fingers as it slams onto the ground. They hold still for a second to see if anyone came running to the sound before highfiving. "That'll do it." It's pitch black beneath them, but when Barbara sticks her hand in and squeezes it into a fist, it starts glowing.

"How are you doing that?" Adam says incredulously, poking at her hand.

"I just kind of... hoped it would happen, and it did?" Time is not on their side, so Barbara slides her legs into the door and starts slowly letting herself float down to the floor. The room must be massive - it's nearly pitch black but even in the soft glow of her hand she can't see any walls - it seems to carry on forever. The floor is out of sight, too, but she's hoping it will come soon because she's never been good at the whole controlled descent thing. "Adam?" she whisper-calls, just to make sure he's still coming. He sticks his head over the trap door and gives her a thumbs up before she's suddenly falling to the ground, landing painfully on her legs. It's a far enough distance that if she was alive, she probably would have broken something, but thankfully it's relatively easy to shake it off. "There's a drop," she warns, but he's already falling. "I didn't mean 'you should drop,' honey," she says, helping him up as he _oofs_ and _ows_ about his legs.

"I didn't _mean_ to drop- you know how bad I am at floating! I never get to practice at home."

"No, you always _can_ practice, you just don't because you hate how floating through things feels," she fires back, brushing some of the dust off of his back for him.

"I can't help that! It feels so _icky_ , it's like-"

Somewhere behind her, something coughs and says, "Adam?"

Both of them whirl around and Barbara wills her hand to glow brighter- it's still dull at best, but she can finally see Beetlejuice slumped up against a wall several feet away. Her body reacts faster than her mind, so it's only as her legs are running her over does she notice how gaunt he looks, the split lip and the black eye, the white shirt turned brown from different patches of blood. It's only when she drops down next to him and reaches to touch his face that she realises he doesn't look happy to see them- he looks afraid.

"Beej," Adam is saying, kneeling down next to her and face dropping as Beetlejuice weakly attempts to scramble away. "Hey- it's okay, it's okay, we're here." There's recognition on his face, thankfully - one of her biggest fears was that Juno would've found a way to wipe him clean, a fresh new slate that had no idea who they were. This isn't worse, but it's close. "It's us?"

"Fuck off," Beetlejuice spits, burying his head in his hands. "I know you're not real, just fucking get it over with and _go away_." Barbara shifts back, not wanting to crowd him, but the venom in his voice is just a cover. It's there when they argue, when he's scared of going too far but doesn't want to back down. It's just fear."

"We are real," she promises, keeping her voice level so that hopefully Adam will calm down. "How can we prove it to you?"

"You _can't,_ " he says, head still tucked under his arms. It's how he sits when he's on the verge of panicking, which is _not_ something they want right now. "Please, just fucking _get lost_."

"Beej," Adam begs, and Barbara doesn't want to look away from Beetlejuice but he sounds like he's crying now, reaching out for the demon's arm but not quite touching him. "Please, it's us. We- we came to get you, we want you to come _home-_ "

" _Stop_!" he shouts, muffled by the fabric of his trousers. His hands shake as he lifts them away from his face. "Enough, this one's too much- I'll do it, I don't care, just _stop_." The blood and grime on his face is streaked with tears and she's never wanted anything more than she does for him to be okay.

"Beej," she says, forcing the wobble away from her voice. "I don't understand what you think is going on, but I _promise_ you that we're real. Maria helped us hide until your- until _she_ left her office and we found the trap door under her chair." Beetlejuice doesn't look convinced in the slightest, but he's stopped shouting and she'll take any progress at this point. "There has to be _something_ we can say, something you can ask us to prove that to you."

When he doesn't say anything, Adam wipes his eyes and leans closer. "Anything- like, like- what we had for dinner last time you ate with us, or what we did for our last date night, or what pajamas you wear to bed or the only brand of soap you like the smell of-"

"What did Lydia get mad at me about right before dinner?" he interrupts, voice quiet as if he doesn't want to hear the answer, as if he's waiting for something to go wrong. Barbara pauses to try and remember - it was like, three weeks ago, after all - and he squeezes his eyes shut as if something awful is about to happen.

"You ate one of her important homework sheets," Adam says. Barbara is overwhelmed with relief when Beetlejuice's eyes immediately open and his hands drop to his sides. "She said- she said you could have the ones she didn't want, but for some- for some reason, you think the colour ones taste better, so you ate one of those." The words are barely out of his mouth before Beetlejuice is tackling him, arms wrapped tightly around his waist and head buried in his shoulder. The moment feels private, in a way, which is silly but Barbara almost feels like she should look away.

"Come here, stupid," Beetlejuice is saying, yanking her towards them and squeezing her as hard as possible. God, she's missed him so much. "Fuck," he's saying as Adam is kissing his head, "I can't believe- like, you guys are totally real, I thought- _fuck_."

"What did you think we were?"

The grin falls from his face immediately, but he stays tucked between them, hand anchored on her waist. "Whenever I was thinking _hey, maybe this ain't so bad,_ you guys would appear. Not- not through the trap door, or anything, just there in the room. At first, I'd get like, super excited - _obviously -_ but it would seem kind of weird, so I'd be like 'hey, what's up with you guys' and then you'd like, I dunno. Start ripping each other's guts out and stuff like that. Then when I started to refuse to look you'd beg me like you did just now, only when I asked questions you'd just go all quiet. And then you'd rip each other's guts out." Barbara doesn't say anything, because she doesn't know how to respond to that. All she knows is that she doesn't want to let go of him. "Hey- look, there you are."

Sure enough, an Adam and Barbara are standing a few feet away, wearing the same clothes as the day that they met Juno. They're completely and utterly lifelike, and when they start calling over to Beetlejuice they sound so perfectly real that she feels kind of sick. His fingers tighten on her waist and she pulls him close because he doesn't need to see it again. Adam stands, reaching to wave in his own face but his hand passes right though even though fake-Barbara's hand connects when she reaches for Beetlejuice's hair. "I can't- they can't see us or touch us," he frowns, trying to push fake-Barbara away. 

" _Fuck_ _off_ ," Beetlejuice hisses, but he's hiding his face again as they both mechanically straighten and turn towards each other. Where the knife came from, Barbara isn't sure, but she hides her face in his hair and waits for the sickening wet noises and the screaming to stop. They're gone when she lifts her head. "So yeah. That's what I've been up to," Beetlejuice says, cracking an easy grin that doesn't meet his eyes. "You guys should go, though."

"What?" she frowns, leaning away to look at his face. Because it's Beetlejuice, he determinedly continues to stare at the ground. "Beej, we came to take you _home_. We need to go now."

To her surprise, he _laughs_ , hand dropping away from where he was holding her. It's hollow and empty and her chest aches as he stares at her dejectedly. "I can't leave, Babs. She'll kill you before we leave the building. For realsies, this time."

"We can make it out before-" Adam tries to interject, stepping back when Beetlejuice snarls.

"No, we _can't._ You guys have no idea what kind of shit you're dealing with here. Don't look at me like that, Adam, of course I wanna leave. I'd give fuckin' _anything_ to just be back- whatever. It doesn't matter. You guys leaving now is- it's the only way you're gonna be safe. So go." When neither of them move, the anger seems to crumble. " _Go_ ," he repeats, but there's no force behind it. "Please."

"We are _not_ leaving without you. Come on, let's go now. She should still be busy with the newly-deads-"

"I can't leave even if I wanted to- look," he says, snapping his fingers and seemingly nothing happening. Barbara isn't sure what she's supposed to look at. "None of my fuckin' demon powers work in this shithole. I dunno what she did, but it worked."

"Why did she even take you?" Adam asks, coaxing him to stand up. Immediately his face darkens, hair dulling to a familiar brown. "Is it- oh." Oh. Questions start burning in her chest - has someone hurt him? Did she force him to do- do those _things_ again? Was he even conscious? - but she forces them down, not wanting to disturb him anymore. Her questions can wait until they're back home. "Can you walk?"

"Sure," he says, as if he's not leaning on Adam with his whole body weight. "How is it you think we're getting out of here?"

"Well," he says, sounding sweetly optimistic. "Barb and I managed to float down here and all that. I'm sure we can just- y'know, float back up?"

Beetlejuice looks doubtful, but he's stopped insisting that they leave and is instead clinging on to Adam like he's his lifeline, so Barbara just focuses on trying to lift his body into the air. "Am I floating yet?" he says, probably just to be annoying, but then she feels a surge of energy course through her veins and he _is_ floating. He's only hovering a few inches off the ground, but that's a pretty damn good place to start, and that's without Adam even trying to help. "Not too shabby, babes. I've clearly taught you well." Now that he's in the air and not walking on his mauled leg, some of the life (well, not _life_ , but y'know,) is back in him and she can't help but smile.

Overhead, the trap door slams shut. 

There's a few seconds of silence before Beetlejuice hisses, " _Run,_ " but there's no use. Barbara tries to turn and run but she can't even move, feet glued to the floor as an ominous red light surrounds Beetlejuice, holding him in the air no matter how much he struggles. A slow mechanical whirring fills the space and Adam reaches blindly for her hand in the darkness before a bright, white light turns on overhead. A few feet in front of them, just past where Beetlejuice is hopelessly suspended in the air, Juno is triumphantly facing them.

"Welcome to the Netherworld, Maitlands," she says with a crooked grin, lighting a cigarette with the tip of her finger. "I'm glad we've all said our goodbyes, but I think it's time to go now. Lawrence, come over here," she instructs, the red light disappearing and dropping him to the floor as she beckons him with a crooked finger. When he doesn't move, she rolls her eyes, dutifully ignoring how Barbara is trying to force her feet off of the ground. Both of them are reaching for him, shouting for him but no sound is coming out. "Don't make this harder for everyone. Come here."

"No," he says, trying to push himself closer to the Maitlands. Exactly what happened to his leg, Barbara isn't sure, but it looks as if something tried to eat it and he's not getting very far. 

"I didn't catch that. What did you just say to me?" she frowns, ashing her cigarette. It's insane - she's _tiny_ , probably only up to Adam's shoulders and reasonably old - she shouldn't be something that causes fear. Yet here they are, still feeling as if she's towering over them. There's something burning behind her eyes that makes fear burn in the back of Barbara's throat, something that makes her want to turn and leave and not ever, ever come back. "I won't say it again," she warns, pointing at the floor next to her. "Come. Here."

" _No_ ," he insists, louder this time, somehow managing to push himself up into an incredibly wobbly standing position. Adam reaches out to help him stand, gripping on to him tightly as if to say _no, you can't have him_.

Juno doesn't look phased, just sighs and places a hand on her hip. "You can't say I didn't warn you." She snaps her fingers, and Barbara could've sworn that she flickered, the image of her distorted for just a second- but then she's not looking anymore because Beetlejuice's eyes have rolled back into his head and he's fallen back to the floor.

"What did you _do_?" she cries, feet finally free to leave the floor. Adam managed to catch his head before it hit the concrete, but before she even gets over to him, he's standing back up with ease. It's as if his leg is completely healed. It doesn't make any sense. "Beetlejuice?" she says, shaking his arm as he slowly steps away from her. Wordlessly, all they can do is watch as he makes his way back to her, turning to face them again behind her left shoulder. His eyes are still completely white and when Barbara makes eye contact it feels as if nobody is staring back. 

"Isn't this so much better?" Juno asks, her tone light and conversational. "This is how people always want him. Placid, easy to control," she muses, lifting and twisting a finger in the air and making him wave a hand mechanically, almost as if he's a puppet on a string. "This is how he's supposed to be."

"No- no it's not!" Adam protests, but no matter how close he tries to get, it's as if they're surrounded by an invisible barrier and he just keeps getting pushed back. "Just- give him back, _please_."

"Back? You want me to give him _back_?" she laughs, scratchy and two-timbered, as if her human image is coming apart at the seams. "Honey, he was never _yours_ in the first place. I banished him to the breathing world as a _punishment_. He was never supposed to find anyone like you. I could hardly have him gallivanting up there contentedly, could I? So I thought it was time to take him back. Nobody's forgotten about him, so he'll be some kind of useful."

"If you hurt him, I swear to _God_ I'll-"

"You'll what?" she taunts, snapping her fingers and having Beetlejuice fall to his knees as if to show off just how much control she has. "Go on, tell me what you'll do. What's the point? He doesn't love you, I can promise you that. Look at him," she sighs, grabbing him by the chin and turning him to face her. "He doesn't love anything other than _attention_. It's the only reason he won't leave you alone. It's the reason he's so good at what he does." When she lets go, his head stays turned towards her. Barbara can't look away from him. He looks so _empty._

"I'm feeling nice today - after all, I've gotten exactly what I wanted - so I think I'll make an exception and let you go back home. It's probably for the best," she quips with a tight-lipped smile. "Can't have you trying to take him away, can we?"

Barbara slams her fist into the invisible barrier, shouting, "We are not going _anywhere_ without Beetlejuice, you _fucking-_ " but before she can finish her sentence there's a doorway opening up underneath her. " _Beetlejuice_!" she calls, but it's too late and he's just staring at her blankly as they both fall through the floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading! if you want to chat about beetlejuice find me @bi-tlejuice on tumblr (i finally turned on anon commenting because i'm an idiot) ask me things!
> 
> if you didn't know, the titles are all from the song devil in my bloodstream by the wonder years! it's very sad and i love it a lot and it reminds me of beetlejuice
> 
> <3


	4. i bet i'd be a fucking coward

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Is he-" Charles tries, clearly trying to find the right words. "Is he- is it permanent? Can we get him back?"
> 
> "Yes," she finds herself saying, even though she has no idea if it's true.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> apparently i updated yesterday? wild
> 
> TW! this chapter vaguely alludes at past sexual assault and panic attacks

When they fall through the living room ceiling and land awkwardly on the floor, Delia screams, rushing over to her. Her head doesn't _hurt_ where she smacked it through the coffee table, because nothing really hurts since she died, but a phantom dizziness is present and it takes her a minute to work out what's going on. When the soft buzzing leaves her ears, she realises it's the middle of the day and Charles is standing a few feet away, helping Adam dislodge his leg from the couch. 

"What happened?" Delia's asking, helping her sit up and immediately rushing to the kitchen (Barbara assumes to make tea, as that seems to be what she does whenever anything goes remotely wrong.) 

"Juno," Adam says through gritted teeth, wiping his eyes. "She- she has him, she's- not possessed him, but done _something_ to him and now he's just-" he sighs, sinking into himself slightly more. He looks how Barbara feels: defeated. "I don't really know. He just seemed _empty_."

"Is he-" Charles tries, clearly trying to find the right words. "Is he- is it permanent? Can we get him back?"

"Yes," she finds herself saying, even though she has no idea if it's true. "We have to get him back. She's not going to- to kill him, or anything. She wants to-" and her voice breaks and she doesn't say any more. Whether or not Delia ever explained the exact nature of Juno and how she treated Beetlejuice to Charles, she's not sure, but now isn't the time to go into detail. In a way, she's glad Lydia doesn't know. Her mind is racing at a million miles a minute - surely people can't be _interested_ in someone who's clearly not mentally present? Then again, she would've hoped nobody would be interested when Beetlejuice was just a child, but that's a different kind of disgusting. Both thoughts make her want to vomit. 

"The handbook," Adam says from where he's curled up on the sofa, and then again, slightly louder, "Barb, the handbook." When she just stares at him helplessly, he stands up and rushes towards the stairs. "Wait," he says, over his shoulder, jogging up before she can ask what she's supposed to be waiting for. 

"Is Lydia at school?" she asks, gratefully accepting the tea from Delia. It's weird and unexpected when Delia sits down next to her and wraps an arm around her shoulders, but she finds herself leaning in to it anyway. It's just- it's simple, Delia is soft and warm and suddenly she's crying into the palm of her hand. "Sorry- sorry, it's just-"

"Oh, don't be silly," Delia's saying, rubbing her back gently. "Charles, stop standing there like a lemon and go and get some tissues." Every time Barbara think she's got her stupid emotions under control, Delia squeezes her arm or passes her a tissue and it sets her off again. 

"I- I miss him, and I'm so- what if, what if we can't get him- him back? It's- it's so _much_ , and-"

"I know," she's saying, pulling her in for a tight hug. "Let it all out, okay? You've had a very stressful, horrible few weeks. I know it doesn't seem- seem very good at the moment, but Charles and I will do everything we can to help you guys." There's some relief in hearing this, even though she already knew it. "We'll get through this, okay?" she promises, and she sounds so sincere that Barbara can't help giving her a watery smile. When Adam thunders back down the stairs she gives him a thumbs up so he doesn't drop everything and start worrying. 

"There has to be something in here that will help us- I mean, look at it, it's _huge_ , and there's only three chapters about dying and moving on and how the Netherworld works. Do you know how many chapters this book has? _Forty one_." Of course Adam would know this. "There's- there's _everything_ in here, so we just need- I'll find something, I _have_ to." Whether that's true, she doesn't know, but she admires his determination and it's definitely better than sitting around doing nothing. "There's- there's no contents pages, so I'll start skimming it now and see what I can find." He's gone again, running back up to the attic.

"I don't know how he isn't exhausted," she admits, dabbing the tissue under her eyes. "I should go and help him."

"There's only one book," Charles helpfully points out. "Maybe- maybe you should rest for a bit. You could always take turns." Barbara can't really argue with that - two of them trying to read one book is probably going to end up taking longer than letting Adam do it by himself. Maybe she doesn't need sleep, but she's so incredibly tired and there's nothing else she can do to help. 

"I might doze on the couch- just for a little bit, though. Make sure Adam wakes me up if he needs me." Delia nods and smiles softly, getting up and laying the green knitted blanket over her. It's Beetlejuice's, a handmade present from Delia that she made for him after he admitted he finds the other blankets too itchy on his skin. It's heavy and soft and makes her think of lying on the couch with him after dinner. The couch is comfortable, but it's nothing compared to cuddling up with Beetlejuice - he's so soft and he never quite sits still, always tapping his fingers along her arm or playing with the ends of her hair. At least there's the blanket. Once she died, her sense of smell was significantly diminished, but even with that it still smells like grass and earth and _him_. It's nothing compared to him. Still. Somehow, it's better than nothing.

"Honey," Adam is murmuring in her ear, stroking her hair as she starts awake. "You sleep okay?"

"Mh?" she yawns, rubbing her eyes as he lets her sit up. To her surprise, Lydia is sat on the armchair beside her looking more tired than Barbara's ever seen. In the window behind her, the sun is sinking beautifully in the sky. "Hey, I said not to let me sleep."

"I read faster than you anyway," he insists, smiling when she half-heartedly elbows him in the rib. "I think I've found something- uh," he pauses as Lydia clears her throat.

"Are we going to address the elephant in the room?" she deadpans, crossing her arms and glaring at them.

Logically, Barbara knows she's not really angry. Maybe upset at being left behind without any warning, which is understandable, but despite the glare she isn't angry. Lydia and Beetlejuice are similar in that way; neither of them like being vulnerable, neither of them know how to say _hey, you upset me_. So instead, it's _hey, fuck you_ , and whilst Barbara can sympathize she's really not in the mood to be exploded at for trying to keep Lydia safe. "Lydia, we're-" Adam starts saying, but Barbara cuts in.

"The things that happened in the short amount of time that we were down there were _horrific_ , and I wouldn't wish them on anyone, let alone someone I cared about. I'm sorry we left without telling you we were going, but I'm not sorry that we didn't let you come. I never would have forgiven myself for exposing you to something like that."

The room is completely silent as everyone is taken aback - if she's being honest, Barbara is still half asleep and had no idea that was going to come out of her mouth - but after a moment, Lydia meets her eye and nods. "Thanks for at least being honest about it." Respect earned, apparently. Maybe teenagers are more grown up than she'd thought. "So- um, is Beej-"

"Right!" Adam says, still recovering from the silence. "Uh- yes, I found this- this page on hypnotism and spiritual control. If I'm being honest, I can't be one hundred percent certain that this is what's going on, but it _seems_ to be, and really- well, there's not much else we can try, so we'd best give it a shot."

"What does it say?" Lydia asks, coming to sit on his right as he sits down next to Barbara. "Is it hard?"

"It's- it's not going to be easy," he admits, turning to the correct page and tapping the page heading. "We need- we need something that belongs to her, which we _don't_ have. Something he would associate with us and _not_ her, which is slightly easier. Some herbs and- well, I'm hoping we can just use whatever's in the cupboard and this isn't referring to weird herbs you can only get in the Netherworld."

"I'm sure if you just use dried herbs that'll be the same as dead ones," Lydia shrugs, leaning over to trace her fingers under the lines of words. "I see there's lots of burning involved."

"Yes, that's the easy part," he grimaces, turning to page to some kind of- what _is_ that? It's a diagram drawn in thick sketch lines and it looks almost like a dark interpretation of an exorcism, thick black clouds pouring out of the figure's eyes and mouth as fire burns around him. "I wish- the diagram is covering some of the words, it's very poorly formatted. I think we may need to light Beetlejuice on fire?"

"Are you serious?" Barbara frowns, pulling the book into her own lap. "In the diagram the man isn't actually on fire, he's sat _in_ fire. Maybe it's more a ring of fire kind of scenario?"

"I vote ring of fire," Lydia chips in helpfully, and Adam holds up his hands.

"Hey, I'm fine with that- it's not like I _want_ to light him on fire, Barb. Anyway- so, we need something belonging to her, something belonging to him, white sage, eucalyptus and... sandalwood? Hm," he frowns, scratching the underside of his chin. "These are not kitchen cupboard herbs. I don't think I've ever seen eucalyptus leaves in real life."

"Delia's like, a whole witch," Lydia says, bouncing off the couch. "They're out doing the grocery shopping _anyway_ so if the cupboard doesn't have them, we can like, call them - but I'm _certain_ she'll have them somewhere. White sage is like, the _key_ for neutralising negative energies." When they both just stare at her she huffs, crossing her arms. "What. Delia's witchcraft stuff is kind of interesting sometimes, okay?"

Barbara doesn't really understand Delia's witchcraft things, but they seem to be very calming for her and if it's something for her and Lydia to bond over she's hardly going to dismiss it. After Lydia's disappeared into her parents' bedroom, she feels Adam lean his chin onto her shoulder and sigh gently. "This is hard," he says, though when she reaches to stroke his cheek he leans in to it. "I'm glad we're in this together."

"You're such a sap," she returns, but she smiles when he presses a kiss against her hand. 

" _Fuck yes_ ," Lydia exclaims in the other room, running out a second later with a handwoven wicker basket that even Barbara can smell from the other side of the room. "Sorry, _language_ ," she sighs in what is a reasonably accurate impression of Adam. "Nothing is labelled, but I know this is _definitely_ white sage, this is sandalwood, and. Um, this could be a eucalyptus leaf?"

"It could also be a bay leaf," Adam says doubtfully, pulling one off of the stem to take a closer look. When that renders not very helpful, he takes a bite from it, immediately sticking his tongue back out and dropping it. "Gross- gross, gross. It's _not_ a bay leaf - too medicine-y. When are your parents supposed to be home?"

"Uh, they left like, 5 minutes before you came downstairs, so probably not for a while. I'll facetime Delia and ask her," she decides, carrying the basket back into the room sans the white sage and sandalwood. Why the facetime can't happen where Barbara and Adam can also ask Delia questions, she's not sure, but it seems like Lydia's way of helping and feeling important and she won't take that away from her. 

Sure enough, not even five minutes later she's bounding out of the bedroom holding a bunch of the leaves above her head. "Success," she announces, laying the leaves out beside the other two herbs. "Delia said take as much as you need." There's a weighted pause as she takes a deep breath. "When are- uh. When're you leaving."

"Probably later tonight," Adam says quietly as she refuses to make eye contact. "You- Lydia, I know you want-"

"I know I'm not allowed to come," she scowls, crossing her arms tightly. "I wasn't gonna ask. I just- _ugh_ ," she sighs, head dropping even further. "Be careful. Come back." With that, she turns and runs up the stairs, slamming her bedroom door a few seconds later. 

"Are we- are we supposed to go after her?" Adam frowns, mindlessly picking at some of the herbs. "I wish she would just- I don't know, really."

"Tell us how she was actually feeling instead of actually physically running away?" Barbara suggests, rubbing her thumb over his knee. "Me too, honey, but I'm getting the sense that teenagers don't really work like that. The important thing is she wants us to come back, which we will." She doesn’t miss the way Adam shifts in his seat slightly, the way he won’t meet her eyes for a second as if he doesn’t quite believe her. But she doesn’t call him out on it, because there’s no point in forcing him to admit he’s scared. Instead, she just repeats, “We will,” and lays her head on his knee. “When do you think we should go?”

“As soon as possible- obviously, I guess, but- I don’t know, should we wait for Delia and Charles to come back?”

Before Barbara even has the chance to answer, the bell on the mailbox outside rings. Weird time for post, but oh well- it’s not like they can go and get it anyway. Adam tried one morning without thinking, saved only by Beetlejuice grabbing the back of his collar and yanking him back inside. “I think it’s better to-” she tries saying, interrupted by the mailbox bell ringing incessantly. Delia had it installed because she said they always forgot to check and she didn’t want the packages to absorb any ‘bad energy’ from sitting outside for too long. Right now Barbara wants this postman to absorb all the bad energy in the world - seriously, why does it matter if they don’t go and get the package now? If it needed signing, wouldn’t they just ring the doorbell?

“What’s that?” Lydia says, reappearing at the top of the stairs.

“I think… the mailbox?” Adam frowns, peeking out of the window. “But- it’s still ringing, there’s nobody there? How is…?”

Clearly someone with little to no self-preservation, Lydia’s method of resolving this is just to come downstairs and open the front door, yelling, “ _Hey_!” at the mailbox when it still doesn’t shut up. Sighing and ignoring Adam’s insistence that she _be careful_ , she stomps over to it and opens the slot. Immediately, a screwed up ball of paper flies past her head and into the living room. “What the actual fuck.”

Both of them are too confused to scold her for swearing, instead just turning to where the paper is flying around the room and attempting to catch it out of the air. Lydia shuts the door and jumps onto the arm of the sofa, hopping around in the air a few times before successfully snatching it down. “Ow!” she exclaims, immediately dropping it onto the floor, where it continues to twitch but doesn’t rise into the air. “It burned my hand.”

When Barbara picks it up, it uncurls in her hand, revealing messy and muddled cursive in a reddish-brown ink. Is it ink? She doesn’t really want to think about it. It’s smudged in places and a little damp from the rain but about half of it is legible, though she’s never seen the handwriting before.

_Maitlands. much time. When come back, do not try speak to me. Juno is wa eyes everywhere, even me. Don’t trust anyone, or ing. Beetlejuice is NOT in her offi , she m im to her ho Good Luck. Mar_

Slowly, Barbara reads it out, attempting to fill in the gaps. “We can’t speak to Miss Argentina when we arrive. Beetlejuice isn’t in her office anymore, he’s… um. Oh! In her house, I think? I didn’t realise she _had_ a house.”

“Yeah, Beej talked about it sometimes. They lived there when he was like, a kid- though, I guess that was a million years ago.” There’s a pause, like she’s considering whether to share something with them, before she says, “He hated it there. Didn’t tell me why.” Barbara has a feeling she knows why. Obviously, her and Adam have made it known to Beetlejuice that he can always talk about what- what _happened_ , what his mom did to him when he was younger, but pretty much every time he’s deflected and shut it down pretty quickly.

The only time they’ve come anywhere close is when she woke up to him half-asleep and panicking after what she assumed was a bad dream. He’d been crying, pushing her away and saying _I don’t wanna go back, don’t make me, don’t make me_ until she kind of felt like her heart was breaking. All she could really do was try and calm him down verbally because he wouldn’t let her touch him, and that had been pretty difficult considering he was still half-asleep and delirious. _She’s locked me in again_ , he started saying, and then she _had_ to touch him because he was clawing at the side of his face until it drew blood. _I can hear him coming upstairs_ ** _please_** _don’t let him in he’s going to hurt me again_ and Barbara’s doing everything in her power not to cry, to hold it together until Adam came back upstairs or Beetlejuice calmed down. Eventually, all it had taken was her insisting it was okay, he was safe and she wasn’t going to hurt him. Eventually he’d kind of collapsed into her and pretty much fallen back asleep after calming down, and she was left with him curled up around her. Obviously, she didn’t get back to sleep.

In the morning, it seemed like he hadn’t remembered anything. If Barbara didn’t already know how good of a liar he was and how much he loved not talking about serious things, she might believe him. But there had been something in the lack of eye contact that morning that had said _hey, please don’t make me talk about this._ So she’d left it. She regrets that now.

“He hasn’t really talked about it,” is all she can bring herself to say. Unless Beetlejuice has told her, Lydia doesn’t know about any of that, and Barbara can’t imagine him telling her. “The only thing is- I have _no_ idea where that could be.”

“The Netherworld is meant to be endless,” Adam agrees, sitting down next to her. “And we can’t speak to Maria without alerting her that we’re coming.”

“There’s one guy you could ask,” Lydia says from where she’s leaning over the note, fingers hovering above it. “He definitely doesn’t work for Juno- and he can open doorways anywhere, I think.”

“The letter says not to trust _anyone_.”

“Yeah, well. Let me hear your other plan- go on, anything _fractionally_ better than mine.”

There’s a pause where Adam looks at her, his expression saying _wow, she kind of just owned you_ and she sighs, because as much as she hates to admit it, Lydia’s right. They don’t have any other plan that could take them remotely close. “Fine,” she says, and Lydia grins manically. “Who’s your guy?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the next one is gonna be pretty fucking heavy, but this is the last one i had pre-written so it probably won't be out for a few days. im a bit not great at the moment so we will have to see! thanks for reading


	5. i bet i wouldn't have the guts for war

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Beetlejuice," she begs, stepping back every time he steps forward. "You don't have to do this, honey- you can fight it, you've been doing it! Come on, just-" she tries, having to stop to duck as he swings the sword at her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks @cirilee for beta <3
> 
> this is a heavy one! tw for heavy implication of sexual assault, explicit violence, gross things

Lydia's guy, it turns out, is a teenage boy with a knife lodged right between his eyes. At most, he has to be one or two years older than her, but the ease with which he moves around suggests to Barbara that he's probably been down here for a while. When they introduce themselves, he spends a few minutes lamenting about Beetlejuice's disappearance - apparently, they hang out regularly, which Beetlejuice hasn't ever mentioned before - mostly because he would always tip the kid with actual real food from the living world. How they get there is almost hilarious; Lydia gets them to open a door and then, holding an open chocolate bar and wafting it around, she says a few sentences in Latin. After the light flashes red for a second before glowing a cool blue, she reveals that it means let us through, you bitch, we need to travel.

So, they're stood in front of this kid as he sits at his makeshift desk, switches and buttons and every other kind of contraption lining it and the walls around him. Adam taps his fingers on the wobbly desk curiously, jumping back when it creaks threateningly and nearly falls over. "So- um, you set all of this up? By yourself?"

"You betcha," he says with an easy grin, somehow leaning his steel-toe capped boots on the desk with absolutely no issue. "Always thought it was kind of dumb how we aren't allowed to travel anywhere. Mostly born-deads that use the service, but I get a couple ghosties like you guys too."

"So- so you worked out how to make pathways between different planes of existence? Specific pathways? That's- wow, that's pretty impressive," Adam gushes. The kid grins, clearly very happy with the praise.

"Hey- I mean, it works nearly every time. The real hard part is keeping the building from actually being a physical building - like, if any of the guys in charge down here could actually find me, they'd exorcise me instantly."

"That's incredible," Adam admits, and whilst it's kind of amusing to see him so fascinated, they're kind of on a time-limit here so she nudges him, unable not to smile when he says, "Oh- oh. Right, uh, we need to get inside J- uh, y'know. Her house. We aren't supposed to say her name, right?"

"Not if you don't want her to hear you. It's- I won't lie, you kinda have a deathwish if you wanna go there."

They're already dead, so Barbara just says, "Can you make a doorway there or not?"

"I can make a doorway anywhere- I dunno the inside of the house, so I can't do a specific room, but I can probably approximate like, what floor you wanna go to."

"How many floors are there?"

"Shit- you really have no idea where you're going?" he frowns, wincing when they both just stare at him. "Fine. Look- this is for the B-man, right? Fuck. Alright, you can have this- but you gotta get him out fine, and you gotta tell him I want this back ASAP." Without further explanation, he disappears under the desk and makes twenty seconds of glass smashing noises before reappearing with a tiny knife. "When you press the button on the bottom, it'll grow. It won't kill her, 'cause you can't kill her, but it'll buy you some time." Accepting it feels weighted. Barbara is willing to do anything to get Beetlejuice back, obviously, but at the same time she never imagined herself hurting someone. It's not that Juno doesn't deserve it, because she does- and logically, she's already dead, it's not the same as hurting or killing a living person. Still. Something about it doesn't sit right. "I think your best bet is her basement. Rumour is she's got like, a whole house hidden under the ground so nobody asks her about it." He shudders, sitting back down at the desk. "Nasty stuff. You ready?"

"As we'll ever be," Barbara says, gripping Adam's hand. She doesn't know whether they can do this - but either way, they have to, so here goes nothing. When the door opens, there's no fog or glowing light like every door she's seen so far. It's just darkness. Adam squeezes her hand as if to say we can do this. The kid gives them a thumbs up and nods, a silent message of good luck, and then they're stepping through the doorway.

After the doorway disappears behind them, they're left in a completely pitch black room. There's something viscous dripping from the ceiling and what sounds like something roaring not too far away, something that chills her to her bone because of how inhuman and wrong it feels. Encountering Juno was something they'd expected and prepared for, but they hadn't discussed what to do if they crossed paths with something else. Beetlejuice went in to detail when convincing them not to go to the Netherworld - if you're here for long enough, you might start to lose grip on your humanity. In addition, not everything down here is technically human (though he'd heavily avoided going into detail on that) so not everyone you come across is necessarily going to be someone you can reason with. What's important to remember is that she has a knife, and even if she doesn't want to, she'll use it if it's to protect Adam or Beetlejuice.

Slowly, her eyes adjust to the light, but it's still nearly impossible to see anything a few feet away. Thankfully Adam stays close, hand in hers and mouth close to her ear. "Which way should we go?" he asks, a barely audible whisper because as far as they know, there could be someone else in the room with them. It's huge, from what she can tell - they ended up in the corner of the room and no matter how far she squints, she can't see the other side. "I think the- that noise is coming from underneath us."

"Let's find the stairs, then," she whispers back, hoping she sounds much more confident than she feels. It's terrifying, not knowing what you're walking towards. "Back to the wall." It takes several minutes to make their way to the other side of the room, dread pooling in her stomach at the sheer size of the place. If it takes this long to search half of one room, they could be here for days and never find him. There's another roar, much deeper and much more disturbing. More importantly, it's much closer.

"Wait," Adam hisses, and then he's walking them back the way they came until they're tucked into a corner she didn't even see. She's about to protest, ask what's wrong when a flashlight appears on the far side of the room, slowly rising as if coming up a set of stairs. Thankfully, it never turns toward them, just points towards where they came from. It's a dimly lit torch so she can't see who's holding it, but the sound of something wetly sliding across the floor makes her feel sick. They only move once the light completely disappears on the other side of the room. "At least we know where the stairs are."

There's a feeling in her stomach that doesn't quite sit right. Barbara's always trusted her intuition and right now, something is telling her that whatever that thing was, whatever it's just done is very bad. It's hard to put her finger on, and it's not like before they saw it she didn't have any bad feelings, but it's different now. There was something about the roaring, something about the slow walk. "We need to go, now," she whispers, and Adam doesn't question it, letting her lead the way towards where the flashlight had appeared. Sure enough, there's a set of concrete stairs leading down into even further darkness. "Is that-" she tries, not able to look away.

"Blood? Yeah." It's smeared up the handrail and in a slick trail down the middle of the stairs, not even remotely dry. "That- whatever that was, it wasn't- it didn't seem injured." The realisation seems to hit them both at the same time, that really there's only one other person the blood can belong to and they're rushing down the stairs with no regard for being quiet anymore.

This room is much smaller than the one above and somehow even darker, but Barbara's thrown all concern out of the window and squeezes her fist until it starts to glow. Blood trails all the way over to the far corner of the room - exactly what's over there is still too difficult to make out but with every step closer fear curls in her stomach. There's- there's something under a sheet in the corner and as she gets closer she realises it's moving, shaking under the soiled and bloody sheet. She doesn't want it to be him. 

Adam gets there first and pulls the sheet back. Barbara's knees nearly give way underneath her. 

Beetlejuice is curled up in the fetal position with his back to them, deep scratches oozing blood as he shakes, curling up tighter when he registers the sheet is gone. He's naked, hair a sickly dull yellow and when Adam whispers to him he doesn't seem to hear. If ghosts had the physical ability to vomit, she would have already - her legs are frozen in place as Adam gives him back the sheet, letting him cover himself with it. "Beej," he repeats, and as if on command Beetlejuice sits up, back propped up against the wall like he can't hold himself up. "Hey." His face turns but his eyes are blank, staring through Adam like there's nobody there. When Barbara's body unfreezes, she drops to her knees beside him and he flinches.

"Adam," she begs, not even sure what she's asking for. "He-"

"I know," he says, wiping his eyes and slinging the bag off of his shoulder. They bought a cigarette butt that Juno left on their floor when Sandy ate her. Why Beetlejuice kept it, they aren't sure, but they need something of hers and something of his to get rid of whatever it is she's done to him and he had this in a box under their bed. For his thing, they'd bought his favourite pair of sweatpants (Lydia bought them for him) but now she's looking at the scissors they brought to chop the sage and thinking that maybe there's a better option.

"What if we used his hair instead of the sweatpants?"

"Then his hair would be on fire?" Adam frowns, only half-listening as he creates a pouch of sandalwood wrapped in eucalyptus leaves, using the sage to tie it together. The diagram in the book doesn't have any words, but they agreed before they left that it was alluding to combining the herbs like that.

"No- I mean, if we cut a bit of his hair. Then- then he can wear the sweatpants." Momentarily, Adam stops in his tracks and looks back up at Beetlejuice, who's still staring blankly at nothing as they talk about him. "Here," she offers, passing him the trousers. No reaction. "Honey, put them on." She's about to ask him if he needs help but as soon as the instructions leave her mouth he's doing it, body moving mechanically as if he's not the one in control. "He does- whatever you ask?" she whispers, just staring as he pulls them on and slumps back against the wall. There's more left unsaid, mostly because it would kill her to say it, but neither of them are stupid. Even before they knew that, it was easy enough to put two and two together. Beetlejuice's past trauma coupled with Juno's open admission that her aim of bringing him back down here was to punish him- it's more than enough. Barbara just wants to get him out before anyone else tries to hurt him. 

"Let's just- can you cut some of his hair, please?"

"Stay still," she murmurs to him. It's just in case he flinches away and the scissors catch on his ear, but the way he immediately stiffens makes her eyes sting. "Beej," she whispers, even though he probably can't hear her. Maybe that's better, though? Barbara wishes he could hear her, just so he could know everything is going to be okay now that they're here, but if he's aware that means he's just been trapped in a body he has no control over, watching everything happen and not being able to stop it.

"Barbara," Adam says, placing a hand on her knee. She snaps out of it, cutting a small tuft of hair and holding it in her hand. As soon as it's cut, the colour fades to a soft brown. With a tiny piece of string, Adam ties the cigarette butt and the hair to the bundle of herbs before tuning to Beetlejuice and taking his hand. "Can you sit up without leaning on the wall?" he asks, rubbing his thumb over his bruised knuckles. There's a pause and Barbara's certain they won't get an answer, but after a second he nods, uncoordinated and jerky like he's forcing his body to do it. "Please can you sit away from the wall? Just a couple feet." Adam doesn't let go of his hand but Beetlejuice does, standing instantly and walking a few feet away. He doesn't sit back down despite how much his legs are shaking or the blood oozing from the bites on his leg, soaking through the leg of his sweatpants within a minute or so. 

"You can sit back down if you want to," she says, digging the matches out of the backpack along with the rest of the eucalyptus. It's an overly flammable herb (according to Lydia) so their plan is to circle them around him. This doesn't seem to happen in the book, so they try the initial instructions first, but if Barbara is known for anything it's always having a plan B.

"Impius maledictum," Adam sounds out, holding the lit match towards the bundle where it's placed in front of Beetlejuice. "Um... relinquo haec corpus?" Before Barbara can even lay the leaves down, the flame seems to jump from the match and the herb bundle lights up with a deep red flame, circling Beetlejuice instantly. "It says that once the fire is burned to ash, he should be back to normal?"

"How long d'you think that will take?" she asks. At least the room is illuminated now, so if they have to fend off anyone or anything, they'll be able to see them coming and that's an improvement from before. "Surely we can't have much time before-"

"Before what?" comes a voice from behind them. Barbara doesn't want to turn around, she knows there was a wall behind her just a few seconds ago but Juno clears her throat, flicking ash at her back. "No, I'm intrigued now. What are we running out of time for?"

Wordlessly, her and Adam congregate in front of Beetlejuice and in front of the fire. She has a feeling they're thinking the same thing. 

Protect Beetlejuice at all costs. 

"If anything, you're persistent. I'll give you that much. But," she sighs, shifting in the deck chair she's sat in, "You're clearly very stupid. Did you really think you could just wander in my own house without me noticing?" She laughs, raspy and unwelcome, and for a second Barbara thinks she sees the image flicker once more. "I knew you were here the second you arrived, but- I'll have to admit, I was curious to know how you were planning on rescuing your boyfriend. And it would have worked, too - very few people ever take the chance to read the handbook in quite so much detail. Ah, well. Here we are."

The flames haven't died down and Beetlejuice is still sitting blankly in the middle of it, leg soaked in blood. "We aren't going to let you-"

"Honey," she scoffs, standing up and waving a hand to make the chair disappear. "You don't need to let me. I still have complete control over him. Lawrence, dear. Come over here." Like clockwork, he stands, stepping over the fire as if it's nothing. When Adam grabs his arm he simply pushes him away with inhumane strength, staggering over to Juno. Something is- it's not the same, smooth walk from earlier, though. When Barbara turns to look at the ring, the fire is still burning but the herbs are frozen in place as if the ring is paused in time. To her, this means that maybe, it was halfway done? Clearly, she still has some semblance of control over him, but maybe if they can just get him back in there for a few more seconds they can get him back. "Good boy," she nods, nudging his leg with a stick and frowning at the bloodied fabric. "Disgusting."

"That's your son!" Barbara bursts out, not able to help it for any longer and praying that Adam will work out what she's planning on doing before she does it. "I don't understand how you can treat anyone like that, but your son? He's your child, you're supposed to love him and care for him- you couldn't give less of a shit about him!"

"Am I supposed to be offended by that?" she drawls, prodding his chin with her stick until he's staring at the ceiling. "He's- I don't even though how I would describe him. He's worthless. I made him to do one thing, and he can't even do that without me taking away his free will."

"If he's so bad why don't you let him go?"

This makes her snarl, low and terrifying and not human at all. "I didn't waste centuries of time and effort into creating the perfect plaything just to have you steal it from me." Barbara takes a final look at Adam before pulling the knife from her pocket and charging at her. She's got the upper hand of Juno not expecting her to physically attack her and also the button on the knife that grows into a twelve inch sword when she's only a few inches away.

The sword extends instantly, Barbara moving her hand just in time for the blade to plunge directly into Juno's eye. 

Adam comes up behind her as she twists it, pulling Beetlejuice with all of his strength and managing to shove him back into the circle. He collapses on to the ground, but the fire resumes its burning and she'll worry about whether he's hurt his face from falling after he's back. For a moment, Juno's still, a viscous black liquid running from her eye, and Barbara thinks they've won.

"How dare you," she hisses, something deeper and harrowing underneath her voice. She staggers, tugging at the knife with no avail. Thinking back, Barbara probably should have tried to pull it out so she could keep it, but it's too late for that now. "Lawrence. Kill them."

Beetlejuice stands immediately, breaking the ring of fire to wrap his hand around Adam's throat. "You think you're safe just because you're dead?" she says, and there's a disgusting wet noise from behind her as Barbara tries to pull Beetlejuice away from Adam. "You're wrong. Change of plan, Maitlands. He kills you again, you're gone." When Barbara turns back around, the sword is clattering to the floor as an inky black tentacle grows out from her eye socket, growing thicker and longer until the left side of her face is splitting open. Her mouth grows into the blackness, half human and half something with needle-like teeth. Beside her, Beetlejuice is still holding Adam by the throat, but-

There's something else there. From the way Adam has stopped struggling, it seems like Beetlejuice isn't actually squeezing, just holding him. "Kill. Him." Juno repeats, but he makes no movement, just stares directly at Adam. For the first time, it feels like he's aware - the yellow is seeping out of his hair, blossoming into a deep, angry red. "Don't you dare make me ask again." Something rumbles in Beetlejuice's chest and he throws Adam to the ground, turning to face Juno. His head is twitching, and just for a moment, that blank expression is back. Beetlejuice turns to Barbara, picking up the sword and she steps back to where Adam is struggling to get to his feet. 

"Beetlejuice," she begs, stepping back every time he steps forward. "You don't have to do this, honey- you can fight it, you've been doing it! Come on, just-" she tries, having to stop to duck as he swings the sword at her. 

"Beetlejuice," Adam says, voice hoarse as he finally stands up. "We love you so much. I know you can fight this." He's crying but his voice doesn't wobble, steady as anything as he says it for the first time. We love you. It seems to strike something; sure, he still swings the sword again, but it misses by quite a large margin. 

"Do it," Juno rasps, her voice echoing impossibly around the room. Beetlejuice steps and the sword is at Barbara's throat. All it would take is one flick of his wrist and it would be the end - she's frozen in place, not wanting him to see how afraid she is even though he could kill her at any second. "Lawrence, kill her."

Beetlejuice's hand shifts, and Barbara feels the point of the blade break the skin before he steps back, dropping it and clenching his fists in his hair. "Get out of my head!" he roars, the first time Barbara's heard him speak. Before she can even blink, he's picking up the sword from the ground and charging at Juno. A tendril goes for his neck but he slices it off undeterred, furiously swinging the sword as an ear piercing screech rattles the room. Juno's growing at exponential speed, black inky shapes growing every time Beetlejuice does any kind of damage but he doesn't stop, fire burning up his arms until he's encompassed in it. Barbara doesn't want to watch but she can't turn away. Desperately Juno reaches for his neck, but her tries are futile as every time she touches him it seems to burn her.

There's a flash of light, and suddenly Beetlejuice is on the floor and Juno looks normal again. "Lawrence, honey," she's saying, reaching for his face. "Let's calm down for a second. I'm your mother." She's glowing, filling the room with a warm hazy light and Barbara feels like she's dreaming but when she shakes her head and really, really focuses, she can see it's not real. "I'm so proud of you," she's saying, but that raspy demonic voice is still underneath the one she's using, and her image where the blackness was is blurred at the edges and flickering. For a second, Beetlejuice looks up at her like he might believe it.

Some kind of guttural howl rips out of his chest and Barbara squeezes her eyes shut.

There's a burst of light and Juno shrieks in pain. The noise is all-encompassing and horrific and Barbara wishes she couldn't hear it at all. Then, there's nothing.

Slowly, Barbara opens her eyes. Beetlejuice is standing over Juno's melting body, dropping the sword before falling to his knees a few second later. Adam runs to his side and Barbara follows on autopilot, wrapping the sheet around his shoulders in an attempt to stop him from shivering. "Beetlejuice?" she asks, because he's staring emptily at the puddle of what his mother used to be, only this time, he turns to her when she speaks. "Are you- are you there?" she asks. It sounds stupid, but she doesn't know how else to say it. When he nods, relief washes off of her shoulders in big waves and she touches her forehead to his. "Are you okay?"

"I'll live," he says, voice quiet and hoarse. Adam surfaces between them, wrapping an arm around them both and just holding them gently. "Can we- can we just go home?"

Adam fumbles over his words, because Beetlejuice doesn't call their house home. His home has always been the shitty one room house he spent time moping in before he came back to them - Barbara's never been there and doesn't think she ever will, but Lydia has and she said it was just sad. Empty and lonely and clearly somewhere just to exist, not to really live. She never minded that Beetlejuice didn't really see their house as his home- after all, he's been around for hundreds of years, this is only a blip on his radar. But here they are, with one of his arms over each of their shoulders and hobbling towards the doorway he's just opened to their house. 

They're going home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i love one bugman. there's more comfort to come!!!! let me know what you think!!


	6. i know how it feels to be at war with a world that never loved me (i'm hoping i'm wrong)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "The whole time it was like, uh- kinda like I was sat in my own head. Just watchin' everything happen like it was a TV screen. Didn't feel real most of the time. Like the Netherworld's worst Netflix show ever."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here we are, finally! i had to keep coming back to this because it was a lil heavy. i promise there's comfort i just,,, got caught up in the sad. same warnings for other chapters still apply here!! also, @paperpaperowl on tumblr drew some amazing fanart that i'm trying really hard to link!! my laptop isn't co-operating but keep a look out for it!!

It seems like the middle of the night when they step through the living room mirror, but Charles is still sat at the kitchen table with his newspaper as always. He jumps up as soon as he realises what's happening, clearing Lydia's schoolwork off of the couch so Beetlejuice can collapse down onto it. "Evening, Chuck," he says, but he doesn't quite grin. He looks- older, in a way, and tired. So, so tired. In the lamplight the extent of his injuries are really starting to unfold and once again she feels anger surge in her chest; there's deep bite marks on his neck and a small patch of his hair has been ripped out, the scalp bloodied and bruised. Pretty much all of the skin on his knuckles is broken or bruised, and she can't see under the sheet but in the near-darkness it hadn't looked good. 

"Fuck," Charles says, which is a shock in itself - Barbara doesn't think she's ever heard him swear outside of when he broke his toe stubbing it on the kitchen counter. Before Beetlejuice can even say anything, Charles is leaning down and pulling him into a gentle hug, cradling his head like a newborn. "I was worried."

"Nice to see you too," Beetlejuice says, muffled by Charles' shirt. It's clearly meant to be said lightly but something in his voice cracks and comes out wrong, and when Charles pulls away he doesn't look any of them in the eye. "Where's Lyds?"

"She's sleeping- I can go and wake her up, if you want?"

"Nah," he says, a little too quickly. "I'd better- uh, get cleaned up first, y'know? Let her sleep."

"I think- it might be best if we run you a bath," Adam decides, though the sheer look of disgust is enough of a response. "I- I know, but I promise, they're nicer than you think."

Beetlejuice scowls, but then Charles hands him a juicebox and the scowl doesn't look scary anymore. "You can smell all the soaps and pick the least bad one?" she offers, patting his hair softly when he doesn't respond. "Okay, what if I promise not to get your hair wet?"

" _Fine_ , but I'm gonna complain the whole time." Barbara doubts this is true, but agrees anyway, and Charles offers to run the bath before he goes to bed because he's the only person who has an accurate sense of temperature out of the three of them. They wait in silence, broken only by Beetlejuice eating the juicebox. If she's being honest, she's terrified of how broken he's going to look in the brightness of the bathroom light. 

"All ready," Charles says, coming down the stairs with his sleeves now rolled up. "I'm off to bed now. Beetlejuice- um. I'm glad you're home." Like the slightly awkward man he is, Charles walks into his bedroom with his head down so the equally awkward Beetlejuice doesn't have to respond, but Barbara still catches both of them smiling. Idiots.

"Bath time!" she beams, pinching his cheek gently when he scowls. Overall, that should probably be her aim - keep the mood light so he can get through this without breaking down completely. 

Though, as Adam starts helping him undress, keeping the mood light doesn't seem like something that's going to be possible. They watch quietly as he tentatively pokes at the water, raising his eyebrows. "It's warm."

"Of course it's warm, honey. Baths are about relaxing."

"I don't want all that- the salt shit that makes your eyes sting." Barbara's pretty sure he's talking about Delia's bath salts, though why those make his eyes sting she's not sure. 

"Even if it's just water, it's better than nothing," Adam says encouragingly, and although he looks incredibly reluctant, he still steps in. Blood starts seeping off immediately and he hisses as he lowers his injured leg into the water. "Did someone- uh, bite-"

"Yeah," he snaps, but there's no malice there. Beetlejuice just sounds tired, looks exhausted and almost as if he's given up on being angry as he brings his knees up to his chest in the water. "Can I get out now?"

Despite the situation, Barbara nearly laughs at this - regardless of the situation, Beetlejuice will always find a way to be difficult. It's okay, though. She doesn't really mind. "Let me wash the scratches, okay?" she asks, waiting for his nod before she scoops up some of the water in a plastic cup and pours it down his back. There's dozens of inch deep scratches carved up his back, the kind that are going to scar and maybe never go away. Barbara watches as his back tenses and he bites back the whimpers of pain, trying to be as gentle as possible. They'll have to find some gauze somewhere. "You're doing really well," she finds herself murmuring, sluicing the blood off of his back and trying to keep his focus away from where Adam is trying to remove a tooth from his calf.

If she's being honest, it's horrible. Nearly every inch of his skin is bruised or broken in some way and- well, she's seen him slip in the kitchen when Delia's teaching him to chop vegetables or bang his head against something and that means she knows how difficult it is for him to actually bruise or draw blood. But she paints on what she hopes is a brave face, because if it's hard for her it must be awful for him. "Hold this," Adam says, offering Beetlejuice his hand.

"What?" he frowns, but he takes it anyway. About ten seconds pass before he yelps in pain, nearly crushing Adam's fingers. "What the bitch, dude."

"Got the tooth out. Sorry, Beej." Beetlejuice just stares at the curved canine in the palm of Adam's hand. "Nearly done now. Barb, could I get the cup?" 

This time, Barbara is the one who holds his hand as Adam rinses all the dirt from the chewed flesh in his leg. Parts of it have already scabbed over completely, which she takes as a good sign, though it makes sense. If Juno has the ability to completely recover from _death,_ it's a reasonable idea that Beetlejuice's body would have some regenerative properties. The water is still nicely warm but his hand in hers is shaking so as soon as Adam is done, she gets up from where she's kneeling next to the bath and grabs the nearest towel. It's white, so Delia will not be happy about the bloodstains, but it's thick and fluffy and there's things more important than the guest towels. The water is a muddy brown as he steps out but Beetlejuice definitely looks better as he wraps the towel around his waist. When he doesn't stop shaking, Barbara places an extra one over his shoulders and says something about bandages before leaving the bathroom.

_Don't cry,_ she firmly tells herself as she makes her way to the first aid kit they keep in the attic. It's so overwhelming; they finally have him after weeks and weeks of never knowing if he was coming back, but he's been through such an intense traumatic event that he might not be the same anymore. Maybe he'll never want to have sex again. Maybe they can't joke about certain things anymore.

Barbara doesn't care. It's still Beetlejuice, even if something in him is different. That's all she wants.

Her fingers are hovering over the door handle when she hears them talking. Interrupting could be detrimental and she'd rather him open up to just Adam than nobody at all, but she's still desperate to know so she lingers, trying to make out their words through the wood. _"...right?"_ Adam is saying, and from the hissing noises Barbara is guessing that he's cleaning the deeper wounds with some of the bathroom antiseptic. " _We don't look at you any differently_."

" _Hm_ ," is all Beetlejuice says, and it seems like Adam might drop whatever he was saying. However, it seems like he's better at working out when Beetlejuice has more to say, because just before Barbara walks in he clears his throat. " _You said. Uh, you loved me."_

_"Yes_ ," Adam says, keeping his tone light. He's much better at this than her. 

" _Was it- you said it to snap me out of it, right?"_ he asks, pausing for a second before clearing his throat again. " _It's, uh. I don't care- I mean, it worked, didn't it?"_

_"Firstly, I think you need to give yourself more credit for breaking her - uh, I'll call it a spell 'cause I'm not sure what to call it - her spell. Secondly, I did shout it in the moment in attempt to get through to you, yes, but that doesn't mean I didn't mean it._ " Barbara knows Adam's voice better than her own, knows what he sounds like when he's smiling and this is definitely it. " _All in all, I'm a little sad that the first time I got to say that to you was- um, in that situation. But that doesn't mean I didn't- well, mean it."_ Beetlejuice seems to be lost for words at this so Barbara finally opens the bathroom door, holding up the wad of gauze and bandages.

"As soon as we're done with this we can go to bed, okay hon?" she offers, not missing how he doesn't meet her eyes when he nods. He's got to be exhausted, surely - there's no way he can't want some sleep. Well. Bandages first, and they'll burn that bridge when they come to it. 

Barbara starts with his back because if she's being honest, his leg scares her and she's a little unsure where to start. Beetlejuice's back is mauled, but for the most part he's not missing any chunks of flesh and that's much less complicated than his leg. The slices are jagged and uneven, focusing around his right shoulder, so Barbara decides to use his right arm for extra support. "You're being so good," she hums, because even though he's sitting with his back stiff he's shaking, fingers scrabbling on his knee every time she brushes against any of his cuts. She presses a soft kiss to his temple when she's finished and he slumps into her side, still shaking in his towel. "Adam, could you go and get his pajamas?"

"Maybe- fuck, ah- maybe we could leave the leg alone, Babs. Give this old guy a break, heh?"

Barbara pauses where she's peeling the plastic packets off of the gauze and looks up from her kneeling position to face him. Tiredness weighs down all of his features, which is to be expected, but in the few seconds he lets her keep eye contact there's something else lingering underneath that. Not fear, or- at least, not the same kind of fear from when they'd first found him trapped under there. Maybe a mixture of apprehension and dread, almost as if he knows exactly what Barbara is about to ask. "Do you remember anything?" She regrets it almost as soon as she says it, scrambling to take the words back and reshape them, rearrange them to something that holds less weight than a question like that. "I mean, uh-"

"Yeah," he interrupts, and it shuts her up because she was expecting a jokey-deflecting response at _best_ and complete silence at worst. 

"What do you- I mean, if you don't mind talking about it, of course- do you remember, uh-"

"The whole time it was like, uh- kinda like I was sat in my own head. Just watchin' everything happen like it was a TV screen. Didn't feel real most of the time. Like the Netherworld's worst Netflix show ever."

Beetlejuice is practically refusing to look at her but he's talking, actually sharing something, so she feels like it might be okay to ask if he wants to talk about anything specific that happened. But then as soon as she opens her mouth, Adam comes back in with the pajama pants and one of his own oversized t-shirts that fits Beetlejuice nice and snug, and he looks so relived to see his clothes that the words seem unwelcome. Thankfully, he was so busy looking away to avoid eye contact that he didn't focus much on his leg, and she's nearly finished dressing it before he realises she's even bandaged it. "Time for bed?" he suggests, slinging Beetlejuice's arm over his shoulder to help him put on the trousers. That look is back again, but he doesn't say anything and lets Adam help him towards the attic stairs.

She's never seen him cry, she thinks. Maybe once or twice his eyes have watered, maybe at a video of some cats when he was high or some coming of age movies that both him and Lydia claim to despise but always secretly watch. Maybe demons just don't cry. 

Then again, he was a baby at some point, and Barbara can't imagine Juno ever putting up with a crying child. He probably grew out of showing emotions very quickly. 

When they get upstairs, Beetlejuice near-collapses on the bed, shuffling his way in to the middle as the other two get changed. Normally he'll make lewd comments as they change- or, at very least, he loves to chat about something just to fill the space. Now he's staring up at the ceiling silently, hands in loose fists by his sides and an empty look reminiscent of how they found him. Adam meets her eye over the bed with a slight but gentle nod. _Let's do this slowly._

She lets Adam climb in to the bed first, busying herself with brushing her hair but really just watching like a hawk in the mirror. Beetlejuice stiffens enough that she can see it from the other side of the room, but he seems to relax after a few seconds. Adam whispers something in his ear and he nods stiffly, breathing out a shaky breath as Adam pulls him in to his chest. Barbara's always loved how easily the two of them fit together, but now Beetlejuice looks so small in his arms and she puts the hairbrush down even though she hasn't finished. 

"Mind if I join?" she asks, watching carefully for his response. The pause is nearly too long and there's something uncomfortable shifting in her stomach that suggests she's not welcome. But then Beetlejuice turns, pressing his back up against Adam and reaches out for her. Barbara's body reacts for her and she's there in a second. Beetlejuice is warm tonight, warmer than usual but she finds comfort in it. The bed was so cold and empty while he was gone, but now he's burying his head in her neck and winding his arms around her waist so tightly it feels as if they might melt together. She finds herself pressing gentle kisses to his hair, running her fingers through it as he curls up closer to both of them.

Silence settles around them, though Barbara doubts she'll be able to sleep. On the other hand, she's almost certain Adam will fall asleep relatively easily - it's true that sometimes he decides not to sleep, to spend the night reading or something like that - but whenever he's in bed, he passes out pretty much instantly. The uncertainty here is Beetlejuice. He's known for being able to fall asleep anywhere, in pretty much any position, but he's also equally known for his night-time roof visits when he's too overwhelmed to sleep and doesn't want to talk to them.

Hoping he'll fall asleep is great and all, but it doesn't aid her much when he starts shifting around much more than usual, hiding his face and shaking ever so slightly. Barbara's had lots of practice with this - not in dealing with it, but doing it. When she'd wake up in the bed she shared with her sister and panic, but then her sister would wake up and she'd have to pretend she was still sleeping. It's nothing serious- she loves her sister, and she's sure that maybe after some explaining there would've been no judgement. But it was easier to say nothing and just lie there silently as if there wasn't something squeezing around her chest and choking her breath away.

"Beej," she whispers into his hair and he freezes, fingers tightening in her nightgown. "Sweetheart, it's okay." Adam lifts his head to signify he's awake but when he places his hand on Beetlejuice's shoulder, he flinches and shifts away. "Can you sit up for me?" Surprisingly, he does, pushing himself back towards the headboard as if to get as far from them as possible. "What's wrong?

"Can- can we just go back to bed?" he grits out, voice strained and uneven. When neither of them respond because they don't know how, he sinks his head into his hands and says, "Please."

"I think, um," Adam tries, sitting up properly but still making sure to give Beetlejuice space as his fingers thread through his hair. "I think we should maybe talk about this? It can be- um, slow, if you want. And- and, even though we want you to share this with us so we can _help_ you, we aren't going to make you talk about anything- _anything_ you don't want to talk about."

At first, Beetlejuice doesn't respond, doesn't even move to signify he's heard them, just rhythmically tightens his fingers in his hair. Then Adam says, "It can just be one thing and we can forget about- about everything else for now," and he chokes out a breath that sounds kind of like a harsh, sad laugh. 

"Fine," he spits, raising his head but refusing to look at either of them. "You wanna talk about this? You want me to tell you how- how whenever I sit still it feels like my skin is crawling? How I can't sleep because every time I nearly pass out, I feel like I'm- I'm fucking back there with _her_ and then I don't wanna close my eyes _ever again_?" Slowly, he's raising his voice, and there's blood dripping down from his palms as his nails pierce them. Barbara holds a hand up to stop him, to try and calm him down but he's not looking and just storming on. "No- no, y'know what? If we're gonna _talk,_ I want you to tell me how the fuck you can stand to be in the same bed as me?" 

She was waiting to interject at the next opportunity but this catches her off guard completely. What on Earth is he talking about? It's at this point he finally meets their eyes. "Don't look at me like that," he spits, and it breaks her heart because he's not angry, his eyes are tearing up and his hair is a deep purple. Barbara wishes he knew how to be sad, just so he didn't have to be angry. "You're not stupid, you know _exactly_ what happened when I was in that fucking room. How can you just- just lie down with me like nothing happened? Aren't you- don't I _disgust_ you?"

"Stop, Beetlejuice," Adam cuts in, voice firm but not angry. Beetlejuice is still glaring at both of them but now his lip is wobbling, and he seems taken off guard when Adam uncurls his fingernails from where they're still digging into his palm. "Please don't- don't say things like that. It's not true."

"Nothing that happened was your fault," Barbara promises, holding out her hand and waiting for him to make the next move as she doesn't want to overwhelm him. "It's- it was _horrible_ and I would give anything for you to never have gone down there. But that doesn't make it your fault." Her own eyes are starting to water but she ignores it, lets the tears fall and just stares at him. "There's a reason we fought so hard to get you back, Beej."

"I can't- I don't get it," he admits. "I mean," he smirks, though it falls flat considering how close to crying he looks, "It's just me. Even without all the- I dunno, the shit stuff with my mom, I'm still. I dunno," he shrugs. "If I was you, I wouldn't care this much about me s'all I'm saying."

"But- we love you, of course we're going to care. Of course we're going to want you, regardless of what happens to you," Adam says, eyebrows furrowing when Beetlejuice huffs again.

"Yeah, but like, saying that is one thing. People don't love me. They tolerate me, sure, and sometimes- _sometimes_ they like hanging out, but you don't love me. You love each other, it's not the same-"

"I love you," Barbara interrupts.

It's weird. She remembers the first time she said it to Adam back when she was 18 and they thought they were going to be together forever (she's glad they ended up being right.) All the time she spent getting ready, her mom helping her into the perfect dress that Adam insisted on buying a matching tie for, she knew she was going to say it. Scenes flashed through her mind in vivid colour, warmth spreading through her face as she fabricated different _perfect_ moments; their first dance together, sitting on the bleachers with his arm around her, watching the moon in the sky after they leave. 

In the end, it's nothing like that at all. Barbara's parents take the pictures and do all of the necessary fussing and then she's in Adam's car, watching him drive and hum to a song she used to hate but doesn't mind now because he likes it so much. They park, and he straightens his tie in the wing-mirror and it comes out before she even realises she's speaking. _I love you_. She's never seen him smile like that and suddenly it's her new favourite thing. In that moment, she's never been more certain that she will always, always love Adam.

"I mean it," she insists, because Beetlejuice is just blankly staring at her. She hasn't said it before, not to him. "Do you want to know how I know that I love you?'

'Everything to- to get up to this point, was hard. Dying was hard- it was horrible, it was terrifying and _you_ were pretty overwhelming and also a little bit terrifying. Adjusting to sharing the house with four other people with pretty- um, pretty _distinct_ personalities was hard. Teaching you everything your mother should have taught you and helping you un-learn everything she did teach you was hard. Having to physically _rip_ you out of her grip, even just seeing you down there was one of the hardest things I've _ever_ done. But- but I know that, and I still look at you and think, I love you. I love you, and I want to keep loving you because I don't care how hard it is. It's worth every second."

From the right of her she feels Adam take her hand and squeeze it, familiar and welcome in all the ways she feels whenever she looks at him. "We both love you, Beetlejuice. It might be difficult to get your head around but it's true, and we've got all of the time in the world to prove it to you, if that's what you need."

Beetlejuice lets go of both of their hands, and for a second she thinks maybe they've said too much, scared him with too-raw emotions. Then, he breaks down completely. Barbara's never seen him cry - at _most_ he's shed a tear at one of Adam's romcoms - but this is unhinged sobbing, his whole body shaking as he momentarily hides his face in the crook of his elbow. "No- no, I-" he forces out, and when he lifts his head it seems like he might be smiling through the tears. "I'm not- fuck, I don't- I dunno why I'm crying, I'm _happy_ ," he manages to say, and Barbara laughs because she doesn't really know what else to do but he's definitely smiling now, reaching out for both of them. They're hardly going to say no.

Exactly how long he cries for, Barbara isn't sure - Adam cries a little bit, because it's Adam, and she definitely doesn't cry even one single tear - but by the time he calms down, the sun is peeking between the blinds and downstairs she can hear Charles pottering around in the kitchen making breakfast. "Holy shit," he says, yawning into Barbara's neck where he's curled around her. Adam's just within her reach on his other side, fingers gently combing through Beetlejuice's hair. "Crying's whack."

"It's nice, right? How you feel all floaty afterwards. It's what I imagine being high would be like," Adam murmurs, voice muffled by the pillow he's slumped into. 

"You sweet, summer child," he yawns, because Adam's never even looked twice at a cigarette. "Think Lyds is awake yet?"

"We could go see what Charles is making for breakfast?" she suggests, unable to stop herself from smiling when he presses a messy kiss to her collarbone. 

"Fuck yeah, I'm starving." Barbara climbs out of bed first, because it always takes both of them several minutes to summon the willpower to get up. Obviously, she complains and makes fun of them nearly every morning, but honestly? She'd never tell, but it's her favourite part of the morning. Watching Adam rub the sleep from his eyes, lazily reaching for his glasses on the bedside table only for Beetlejuice to bring his hand back from where it's reaching and wrap it around himself in refusal of getting up. Adam's a big softie, so he always gives in, and Barbara always ends up standing at the end of the bed fully dressed, waiting for them to stop cuddling each other so they can actually start the day. It's exactly what happens now, Adam falling back asleep with his head on Beetlejuice's chest and hands wrapped around his neck.

She wouldn't have it any other way. 

**(BONUS)**

Delia's squealing is probably what woke Lydia up - she's jumping around the living room and hugging Beetlejuice repeatedly, which he's pretending to hate but obviously clearly likes - but regardless, she runs down the stairs in record speed. It's earlier than Barbara's ever seen her on a weekend and she looks like she hasn't ever slept a day in her life, but she must summon some energy from _somewhere_ as the hug she tackles Beetlejuice with nearly knocks him over. 

They're still at the stage where they refuse to acknowledge their emotions, so once they separate they don't say much, but all throughout breakfast they're attached at the hip. Lydia cancels her plans with Liss and together they sit themselves down on the couch with a ridiculous amount of popcorn and a really disgusting nature documentary. According to Lydia, it's on every Wednesday and Saturday, and she's been recording them so Beetlejuice wouldn't miss it and they could watch them together.

Of course, they only get ten minutes into the first episode before they're both asleep on the couch, Lydia with her head on his shoulder and Beetlejuice with his head on top of hers. Delia takes a picture, vowing to frame it, and Charles tucks a blanket around them.

Sometimes, everything works out in the end. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please let me know what you think!! what should i write next? come and chat on tumblr!

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! more coming soon. come chat to me on tumblr! @bi-tlejuice
> 
> feedback is SO appreciated!


End file.
